FAITHS & AVATARSBy Julia Martin with Eric L. Boyd

ContentsPowers of the Realms........................................................................2

Worship in the Realms 2.....................................................................Worship and Divine Power 3............................................................Spheres of Godly Influence 4............................................................

Spheres of Influence Map............................................................3Divine Immigrants ............................................................................4The Birth of Powers..........................................................................4The Death of Powers 4.........................................................................

Multispheric Powers, or Is Tiamat Dead or Not? 14......................The Time of Troubles 15..................................................................Being Dead.........................................................................15Back From the Dead 15...............................................................

Divine Abilities 15........................................................................Ao, the Over-Power.............................................................15All FORGOTTEN REALMS® Setting Deities...................................16Greater Powers 16..........................................................................Intermediate Powers..................................................................16Lesser Powers..............................................................................17Demipowers ...............................................................................17

Avatars...........................................................................................17Members of the Clergy....................................................................18

Priests and Deities......................................................................19Nonhuman Clergy, Priests, and Followers...............................20

Running Realms Powers...............................................................20Format of Deity Entries.................................................................20

Extended Calculated THAC0s Table......................................22Extended Priest Spell Progression Table..................................22Extended Wizard Spell Progression Table.................................22Extended Bard Spell Progression Table.....................................22

Faerûnian Pantheon.........................................................................23

Tempus...........................................................................................158Torm..............................................................................................162Tymora..........................................................................................166Tyr ...............................................................................................169Umberlee....................................................................................... 173Waukeen........................................................................................176

Appendix 1: Priest Classes............................................................182Default Class Characteristics........................................................ 182

Expanded Priest Experience Levels Table................................182Racial Class Limitations and Level Restrictions.......................... 183

Racial Class and Level Limits Table........................................183Kit Usage......................................................................................183Spheres of Access ..........................................................................183

Religion-Specific Spells and Spheres....................................... 183Sphere Corrections................................................................ 183Paladins and Rangers...............................................................183

C l e r i c ..........................................................................................183Crusader................................................................................... 184D r u i d ...........................................................................................184M o n k ..........................................................................................185Mystic .........................................................................................186

Brewing Potions and Ointments.............................................186Candle Magic.........................................................................187

Shaman.......................................................................................187Shaman Spirit Powers............................................................188

Shaman Spirit Progression Table.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188Call ing Spir i ts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

C r e d i t s

Chauntea........................................................................................47Cyric .............................................................................................51Deneir..............................................................................................54Eldath ............................................................................................57Gond.............................................................................................62Grumbar.......................................................................................66Helm ....................................................................................... 68Ibrandul ..........................................................................................71Ilmater .......................................................................................75I s t i s h i a .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Iyachtu Xvim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Kelemvor .......................................................................................84Kossuth ...........................................................................................88Lathander .......................................................................................90Leira ....................................................................................... 93Lliira ........................................................................................ 96

A z u t h .............................................................................................34Bane..............................................................................................36Beshaba...............................................................................42Bhaal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Akadi.. ............................................................................................23Amaunator......................................................................................27Ao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Auril . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Loviatar .....................................................................................100Malar .........................................................................................105Mask .............................................................................................109Mielikki ........................................................................................112Milil .......................................................................................... 116Moander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119MyrkulMyst ra

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

Oghma.......................................................................................... 131Selûne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134Shar .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Shaundakul...............................................................................142S i l vanus ..............................................................................145Sune......................................................................................149Talona ..................................................................................152Ta los .......................................................................................155

Appendix 2: Spell Index ..................................................................190

Design: Julia Martin with Eric L. BoydAdditional Design: Ed Greenwood, L. Richard Baker III, and David WiseDesign Assistance: Kate GrubbProject Coordinator: Thomas M. ReidCover Art: Alan PollackNew Priest Color Plates: Victoria LisiPriest Color Plates: Ned DameronInterior Illustration: Earl GeierNew Deity Symbols: Earl GeierDeity Symbols: Paula M. HolzColor Cartography: Dennis KauthInterior Page Layout Design: Dee BarnettInterior Page Layout Art: Red HughesTypesetting: Tracey L. IslerProduction: Shan Ren and Terry Craig

Special thanks to Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd, Brion Babula, andRobert H. Nichols for reviewing this manuscript.

For Moonlion, for being so very patient.

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In the Forgotten Realms, the gods and goddesses of the Realms are referred to as powers. This usageis followed throughout Faiths & Avatars. The revised FORGOTTEN REALMS® Campaign Setting boxcategorizes all the Realms’ powers as greater powers, intermediate powers, lesser powers, dead pow-ers, quasi-powers, over-powers, nonhuman powers, and alien powers. Faiths & Avatars dispenseswith the quasi-power category and places all powers previously ranked as quasi-powers somewhere

within the categories of greater, intermediate, lesser, and demipowers. (The functions of demipowersare described here, but the demipowers themselves will be dealt with in another work.) Dead powersalso are rated within this system according to their former statuses. The function of the over-power, Ao,is described within this introductory chapter, but a brief discussion of Ao as a power and his cult is alsoincluded in the Faerûnian Pantheon chapter.

The nonhuman powers of the Realms—the elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, drow, orc, and other nonhu-man pantheons—are not dealt with in Faiths & Avatars. For information on those deities and their spe-cialty priesthoods, consult Monster Mythology, Drow of the Underdark, Dwarves’ Deep, Elves of Evermeet,Giantcraft, the Draconomicon and other FORGOTTEN REALMS setting products, as well as the numerousPLANESCAPE® campaign setting products detailing the different planes of existence in the AD&D® game.(Future sourcebooks on the deities of the Realms will deal with these popular nonhuman powers.)

The alien powers present a problem in that many deities now considered “native” Faerûnian powerswere once alien powers. They traveled to the Realms through many transdimensional migrations thathave occurred on Abeir-Toril over the millennia. The powers dealt with in Faiths & Avatars are thosethat are worshiped in Faerûn, the region of Abeir-Toril that is generally considered to encompass every-thing from Evermeet in the northwest and the jungles of Chult in the southwest to the lands of theShining South in the south and the Great Glacier in the north and to be bordered by Kara-Tur in theeast and Zakhara in the far southeast. The pantheons of Maztica, Zakhara, and Kara-Tur are not cov-ered in this work, and though Chult and Mulhorand are generally considered to be part of Faerûn, theirpantheons are significantly different from that of the bulk of Faerûn and are not described in this work(though they may be detailed in future accessories of this type).

Worship in the RealmsThe religions of the Forgotten Realms are not monotheistic. They are polytheistic. This is difficult formany role-playing game players to understand, as most real-world nonoriental religions of the modernera are monotheistic. In polytheistic religions, multiple deities are worshiped, usually in groups calledpantheons (meaning all the gods of a people). In the Realms, the religion of Mulhorand involves theworship of a family of deities. The religion practiced over most of Faerûn involves the worship of a col-lection of powers who are not generally related by blood. The religion practiced in Chult is the worshipof but two deities and a collection of ancestral, place, and animal spirits, along with a regard for theforce of nature. The philosophy of the Shining Lands of Durpar, Var the Golden, and Estagund sees allthings in the world as connected and part of a single creation spirit, the Adama or the One; all themany powers of the Realms are different aspects of the One, and consequently the Shining Lands aresome of the most religiously tolerant in the Realms, with literally all deities being reverenced here (al-though the Faerûnian pantheon holds the Shining Lands within its sphere of influence—see below).All of these religions involve the worship of multiple powers within a pantheon, although not neces-sarily multiple pantheons. This is the normal state of affairs in the Realms.Thus, in abstract it is really ridiculous to think of one deity of the Realms becoming angry at a wor-shiper just for worshiping another deity. What matters to a particular Realms power is not that a fol-lower worships someone else—most everyone in the Realms worships several someone elses—butrather which other powers are venerated and which are appeased, and how serious a person’s offeringsand worship are to other deities. Some pantheons even do not care if their worshipers also veneratedeities from other pantheons.

It is also rather silly to think of a particular temple having a congregation that is exclusive only to it,except in special cases. The folk of the Realms worship in many places, and they worship the powersboth by venerating them and by placating them. If a person has a high regard for knowledge or is asinger or bard in most of Faerûn, she or he worships Oghma. But if that same person is planning anocean voyage in winter, she or he also worships Auril and Umberlee by placating them with offeringsto persuade them to allow the trip to proceed safely.

Most folk have a handful of powers that they regularly venerate, only appeasing an unpleasantpower when they are entering or engaged in a situation where that deity holds sway. Most people in theRealms also eventually settle on a sort of patron deity who they are most comfortable venerating andwho they hold in the greatest reverence. A person’s patron deity is the power that eventually escortsthat person’s spirit from the Fugue Plain, the place where spirits go right after people die, to its afterlifeas a petitioner in the Outer Planes in the realm (or at least the plane) of its patron deity. (Those who

firmly deny any faith or have only given lip service most of their lives andnever truly believed are known as the Faithless after death. They areformed into a living wall around the City of Strife—Kelemvor, the new lordof the dead, may soon rename it—in the realm of the dead in Oinos in theGray Waste and left there until they dissolve. The unearthly greenish moldthat holds the wall together eventually destroys them. The False, those whointentionally betrayed a faith they believed in and to which they made apersonal commitment, are relegated to eternal punishment in the City ofStrife after their case is ruled upon by Kelemvor in the Crystal Spire(Kelemvor’s abode in the City of Strife).

Some folk of Faerûn choose to devote their lives to a particular god.Most often these people are priests; others belong to other classes, such aspaladins or mages. These folk are expected to he loyal to their faith becauseof the commitment they have personally sworn to a power, although theymay respect the faiths of other deities who their deity serves or is allied to.

Worship and Divine PowerThe powers of the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting are divided into differentcategories: greater, lesser, intermediate, and demipower. The ranking (andrelative power) of a deity in the Realms is determined by the number anddevotion of a power’s followers. Without worship, powers wither, decliningin deific rank and ability, and can even perish.

Exactly how much worship and how many followers it takes for powersto rise (or sink) within the ranks is unknown. It is evident that some sortof divine formula for the rating of deific ability has been enacted by Ao,but he has never revealed it even to the powers themselves. The divinemechanism for powers to rise and fall in rank operates smoothly and with-out anyone to control it. It accounts for the worship of followers devotedto only one deity and the more casual worship of the average inhabitant ofthe Realms of several or many powers. It may be influenced temporarily bythe use of powerful worship ceremonies or artifacts (such as the ceremony

that allowed Iyachtu Xvim to suddenly rise from demipower to lesserpower), hut such “spiking” of the system must be reinforced by stable,long-term worship or the quickly gamed power leaches away within a fewmonths or a year. The mechanism is totally transparent to mortals, andwhile the powers can guess roughly how it works, they cannot discern itsprecise nature or its quirks so as to exploit any divine loopholes.

With the powers in competition for worship, scholarly folk have occa-sionally wondered why strong deities do not simply kill the weaker ones,thus thinning the field of competition, and why any deity would chooseto serve another. Learned and philosophical priests and monks have de-veloped a theory that explains this. Weaker deit ies sometimes servedeities higher than they are in rank because the stronger powers havepromised to protect them from the divine predations of other deities. Inexchange, the weaker deities provide more hands for the greater power touse toward its ends. Often, especially among evil deities, there seems tohe an almost extortionistic aspect to this relationship. Perhaps, scholarsspeculate, weaker powers sometimes pay some amount of their divinepower to stronger powers to strengthen this arrangement, or perhapsstronger powers who are receiving a lot of worship threaten to “squeezeout” weaker powers or outright destroy them if the weaker deities do notswear to serve them and provide a tithe of divine power. If this is true, itwould seem to provide an explanation as to why powers whose portfoliosseem to overlap tend toward this arrangement. Presumably only similardivine energy can be shared or passed on willingly from power to power.The hierarchies of the gods of fury, with Talos ruling over Auril, Malar,and Umberlee; many of the gods of nature, with Silvanus ranking over El-dath and Mielikki; the gods of justice and duty, with Tyr leading Ilmaterand Torm; and the gods of bardic knowledge, with Oghma leading Deneir,Lliira, and Milil, are revealed as pragmatic and possibly less than benevo-lent when viewed in the light of this theory. Presumably the beneficent orextortionistic qualities of such arrangements are established by the moralinclinations of the powers involved.

Spheres of Godly InfluenceThe powers active on Abeir-Toril have broken the surface of the world upinto different areas over which they have spheres of influence. Different pan-theon groups, for want of a better term, have dominion over different areas ofthe globe. As can be seen on the Spheres of Influence (found earlier in thischapter) map, the Maztican pantheon rulers Maztica, the Zakharan pantheonhas dominion over Zakhara, the Celestial Bureaucracy of Kara-Tur rulesKara-Tur, the Faerûnian pantheon has dominion over the majority of Faerûn,and the Chultan pantheon holds sway in Chult. The Mulhorandi pantheonholds ultimate power in Mulhorand and Murghom and holds equal powerwith the Faerûnian pantheon in Unther (a land that has undergone the mostvolatile recent divine restructuring), Chessenta, and the desert of Raurin.

A pantheon holds ultimate sway within its own sphere of influence (if itis uncontested). Priests from other pantheons may cross into its sphere ofinfluence, receive spells, and remain relatively unnoticed and unmolestedby the deities whose sphere of influence they are in provided they do not at-tempt to convert the inhabitants of the region, set up a temple, or engage ina holy war. Any of these last activities provokes a pantheon to act in itsown self-interest. At this point, most powers have their priesthoods orknightly/military orders take action to eject the foreign influence (mostgood and neutral deities) or expunge it (most evil powers).

Disputes between pantheons and even between members of a particularpantheon are usually settled by meetings of the Circle of Powers in the Pavil-ion of Cynosure on a demiplane floating somewhere in the Ethereal Plane,which is held as neutral ground by all powers active in the Realms and pro-vides an open forum for all parties involved in a dispute. A fundamental prin-ciple upheld by all pantheons active in the Realms is the essential sover-eignty of a pantheon within its sphere of influence and, consequently, itsright to act when threatened by agents of another sphere of influence.

The Faerûnian and Mulhorandi pantheons hold codominion over Un-ther, Chessenta, and the desert of Raurin at the moment. It is yet to be seenwho will gain ultimate sovereignty in Unther, as until recently its bordersdefined the sphere of influence of the now-defunct Untheric pantheon. Atthe moment, the two pantheons remain distantly cordial with each otherand are taking a “wait-and-see” attitude toward the situation. The sleepingpowers of Mulhorand, so long content to remain within its ancient borders,have been roused by the Godswar to a more active role and are trying forthe first time in centuries to actually gain more worshipers. The Faerûnianpantheon is the more vigorous one at the moment in acquiring new wor-shipers in Unther, but the Mulhorandi pantheon has a substantial estab-lished base of the faithful since Ishtar, superficially a power of Unther, wasactually an alias under which Isis, a Mulhorandi power, worked for cen-turies in Unther.

Divine ImmigrantsWhen Abeir-Toril was young, the human deities of the Realms were not soformal about their spheres of influence because their worshipers were not socrowded together on the sphere of Toril as to likely ever encounter one an-other. For a long time, a human pantheon would simply stake out a claim ona continent or large geographic area uncontested. Entire human pantheonsor subsets of pantheons from other crystal spheres found homes on the conti-nents of Toril in this way. They did not worry about other human pantheonswith deities who claimed similar portfolios living a whole continent away.

Eventually, though, pantheons started to see intermixture between theirworshipers as various groups wandered across the face of Toril, and theybegan to worry about how to deal with the threat to their power base thatsuch immigrations caused. As a solution to this, they agreed on the forma-tion of the spheres of influence discussed above. Within these spheres of in-fluence, while more than one deity may have similar portfolios, no morethan one of such parallel powers can ascend in deific stature to a higherrank than demipower.

If a wave of transpheric immigration occurred (most often brought on bya gate opening), the mortals who emigrated to the Realms continued wor-shiping their old deities. If the Realms sphere of influence those people im-migrated to already had powers who possessed the same portfolios as theimmigrants’ old powers, one of two things would normally happen: eitherthe worship of the immigrants would go to the already-established Realmspowers or the immigrant powers would cross to the new crystal sphere andbattle with the old Realms’ deities for control of the contested portfolio. Inthe first case, the power now receiving new worship would eventually in-form his or her new clergy and worshipers of the appropriate changes tomake in their behavior, dress, or theology to accommodate the new crystal

sphere they found themselves in. In the second case, a divine struggle fordominance ensued, and one power won (usually after a short and spectacu-lar battle, but sometimes after years of manipulation and divine intrigue).The loser either was banished from the Realms or was reduced to the levelof a demipower and lingered on. If, however, the Realms sphere of influ-ence in the crystal sphere the new immigrants moved to lacked any deitywith the portfolio of a deity worshiped by these immigrants, the immigrantdeity was free to cross over to this new crystal sphere and sphere of influ-ence uncontested, and in most cases did so. Such immigration-induced fluxwas common within the Faerûnian pantheon, which had many waves ofimmigrants after the spheres of influence were formalized.

The Birth of Powers

Powers can come into existence in a number of ways. In the Realms, al-though some powers are described as being the children of other powers,these births seem to be more a convenient way to describe the relationshipsamong deities than an actual method for new powers to come into exis-tence. At least, no power is believed to have ever directly given birth to an-other while mortals were in existence. One power, Tyche, split into twodeities, Beshaba and Tymora, and this occurrence has had precedent.When necessary, powers seem to be able to carve themselves into at leasttwo separate pieces, with at least one of the parts becoming an entirely dif-ferent being.

Long before the Time of Troubles, Ao evidently created some of thepowers of the Realms, as well as the crystal sphere of Realmspace. However,he left the Realms powers to change and evolve for millennia untold beforedeciding that he needed to readjust the balance of the Realms and set inmotion the events of the Time of Troubles.

During those millennia, the powers split themselves, gave birth, killedeach other, raised sufficiently powerful mortals to godhood, and welcomedwave upon wave of emigrant powers, brought by waves of mortal emigra-tion from other spheres, into their ranks. They were unchecked in theirproliferation and self-destruction. Only after the Time of Troubles did Aotake an active part in the generation of new powers, the resurrection ofdead Realms powers, and permission or denial of the emigration of multi-spheric powers into the Realms

After the Time of Troubles, in order for a candidate for divinity to attaingodhood, Ao must give his consent. He does this either formally in a presen-tation ceremony carried out beyond the eyes of mortals or informally by al-lowing a being to become a deity in the Realms. Usually a mortal attempts tobecome a deity through the accumulation of power, the use of arcane rituals,the use of artifacts, the sponsorship of an already-established power, or somecombination of these. At some point in the process, Ao makes a decision. Ifthat decision is “no,” the candidate does not become a deity.

Often in attempts to attain divine status through powerful rituals or theuse of artifacts, failure (in the form of a tacit “no” from Ao) results in themortal becoming a lich, being transformed into some other form of odd un-dead creature, or being totally destroyed. Usually if a divine power is in-volved in some sort of sponsorship of a candidate before Ao, a rejectionmeans that the mortal either continues on in life, hoping to overcomewhatever the cause of Ao’s rejection was and to be given a second chance,or passes on into the afterlife to become a powerful servant of the sponsor-ing deity in the Outer Planes. Ao is never obliged to explain his decisions.

In game terms, in order to even attempt an ascent into godhood, a mor-tal in the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting should have achieved at least level25, have one attribute score of 21 or above, and have another attributescore of at least 19. She or he must then spend a great deal of time re-searching methods to attain divinity, come up with a plan for doing so, andconfront great peril in order to execute that plan. The plan must always in-volve at least two of these three things: the performance of a specially re-searched ceremony or spell of elaborate complexity, great cost, and greatpersonal danger; the use of an artifact; or the sponsorship of a deity.

If all of these conditions are met, the DM may, at his option, allow Ao tosmile upon the attempt and elect to invest the character with demipowerstatus. Characters granted such status become part of the culture’s pan-theon. If they are player characters, they are removed from play and treatedas a demipower from that point on.

The Death of Powers

Powers can die. They have done so numerous times in the history of theRealms. Dead powers have also returned from the dead numerous times inthe Realms. So how can a power die?

Place of Destruction: Usually, barring the intervention of strange con-ditions (such as the Time of Troubles) or the use of artifacts, the only placethat a deity can be truly destroyed is on its home plane of existence—or atthe very least in the Outer Planes. Because of this, it is very hard to destroya deity, as deities are strongest in abilities on their home planes. In addi-tion, a power’s home plane is usually inhabited by extremely powerful ex-traplanar beings who serve the power and serves in part as a storehouse forthe items of power a deity has picked up or created over its existence.

Deity Kills Deity: In general, barring the intervention of strange con-ditions such as the Time of Troubles, only a greater power can kill anothergreater power. Within the lesser ranks of deities, some flexibility exists as towhat rank of power can destroy another, but most deities, given enoughtime, resources, and personal accumulation of power, can destroy those oflesser rank than themselves in outright battle and can try to destroy thoseof equal rank with some sort of assistance from other powers, high-poweredmortals, specially designed ceremonies/spells, artifacts, or a combination ofthe above. Of course, most powers have divine allies that they will call toaid them if they are directly assaulted. In addition, powers may willinglyyield parts of their portfolio or their divine energy to others to prevent theirdestruction. This is how deities who came to blows over a portfolio, such asGaragos and Tempus, have both survived.

Mortal Kills Deity: The only powers that mortals can normally hope todestroy are demipowers. Demipowers in the Realms are rather vulnerable asdeities, as in most cases their home plane of existence is the Prime Materialplane and their personal domains are intimately connected to the surface ofAbeir-Toril. Thus, demipowers are much easier targets than other powersbecause it is generally easier to get at their essential selves than those of thepowers who dwell in the Outer Planes.

Demipowers can employ only one avatar at a time, and it takes them along time (a year) to make another. So it is easier for mortals to fight theirway through the defenses of a demipower than any other sort of power sincethey only have to go through one avatar.

Then, the mortals must force the deity to meet them face-to-face, a dif-ficult feat when a deity is already suspecting the intentions of visitors be-cause they have just destroyed the deity’s avatar. Getting a power to mani-fest in such circumstances usually requires elaborate trickery, the help ofanother power, the use of an artifact, or research into some special spell orcircumstance to which the power is vulnerable.

If forced into circumstances that require them to manifest under suchconditions, most demipowers would simply leave. Unfortunately, demipow-ers find it difficult to travel from plane to plane; they must rely on magicalspells or items to do so, rather than using an innate ability as all other pow-ers can. This difficulty with transplanar travel is one reason that mostdemipowers in the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting make their home plane thePrime Material Plane, and it also means that demipowers are much morevulnerable to items or spells that might trap them on a single plane, thuscutting off their escape routes. So, by application of sufficient brute physi-cal and magical force in the exact right place at the exact right time, withclever strategies, adequate preparation, a few dirty tricks, and maybe aminor artifact, it is possible for a mortal to destroy a demipower. Just.

Deity Dies of Neglect: Deities need the power provided them by wor-ship to exist. One way for a power to die is for it to have no more wor-shipers. To intentionally cause a power’s death through this method is diffi-cult even for most greater powers. Basically, all the worshipers of a deityhave to die, or the power has to gradually lose worshipers so slowly that itdoes not realize its inevitable fate until it can do little to stop it. Powers canhang on as demipowers as long as they have even one worshiper. And evenafter they lose that worshiper, it takes them awhile to wither away whilethey wring the last bits of deific sustenance from the use of their name,their sovereignty over the principles and ideals in their portfolio, and eventhe awe inspired by tales told about them as myths or parables. During thistime they would make every effort to get anyone to worship them. To effec-tively ensure the death of such a deity, in all likelihood it would have to beimprisoned on its home plane and rendered unable to communicate withany mortal being. Eventually, then, it would die.

Multispheric Powers, or Is Tiamat Dead or Not?Some powers of the Realms share the same names as powers generally con-sidered to be from other spheres of existence. These powers includeOghma, Tyr, Mielikki, Loviatar, Silvanus, and most of the Mulhorandi pan-theon. For purpose of travel to other crystal spheres and other planes, theseRealms powers are the same deities as those not associated with the Realms.Deities are multidimensional beings and have interests in many crystalspheres on the Prime Material Plane, of which Realmspace is but one.

However, such deities are presented in Faiths & Avatars in the way thatthey are known in the Realms. In other crystal spheres, they are perceiveddifferently, depending on their influence, their concerns, and the natures ofthose spheres. Incidents that occur on one crystal sphere are not relevant tothe dealings of that deity on another. Only incidents that affect a deity onits home plane of existence (usually in the Outer Planes) affect the powerin all crystal spheres, and even then one has to be careful not to assume toomuch, So, beings who are multispheric who die in the Realms have merelyinvoluntarily or voluntarily severed their divine connection to Realm-space. They are not dead, but they might as well be as far as the inhabitantsof the Realms are concerned.

Many rumors of deific tragedies and triumphs have made their way to theRealms via the crews of spelljamming vessels and the tales of travelersthrough Toril’s many transplanar and transpheric (crossing different crystalspheres) gates. It is difficult to determine from these rumors when a particu-lar power is actually being discussed. Many powers use aliases in other planesand crystal spheres to try to subvert the loyal worshipers of one deity tothemselves or to cover for the fact that there has been a change in the divinehierarchy that would disturb conservative worshipers. Other deities havesimply chosen similar names, manifestations, or avatars by chance or be-cause a certain form seems to consistently invoke awe, respect, or terror inthe natives of many different spheres or planes. Just because rumors have itthat a deity or being that has some similarity to a Realms power dies in someother sphere of existence does not mean that the Realms powers are affectedone bit. In fact, many Realms beings claim to be powers who are not, andsometimes it is difficult to tell whether or not a being is what it claims to be.

Perhaps an example would serve to illustrate this. In a far-off crystalsphere a power of evil who manifests herself as a multiheaded chromaticdragon has recently been rumored to have died. She was known to the na-tives of the sphere as Takhisis. A group of powerful adventurers from theBloodstone Lands in the Realms met and killed a powerful multiheaded,chromatic dragonlike creature on one of the lower planes some years ago. Itwas known as Tiamat. It may have been a manifestation of a deity, or it mayjust have been an extremely powerful planar being. In the land of Unther,also in the Realms, until very recently the majority of the populace belongedto the Cult of Tiamat. Tiamat’s avatar died during the Time of Troubles atthe hands of Gilgeam, god-king of Unther, who himself died recently.

The being called Takhisis on one crystal sphere may or may not be Tia-mat, and in any case her rumored demise had no effect on events in theRealms. From this we can assume that either Takhisis is Tiamat, has a pres-ence on multiple crystal spheres, and is thus not dead—or she is dead and isthus not the Tiamat known in the Realms.

The creature killed in the lower planes map or may not have been a deity.(If it was, in all likelihood, it was only an avatar of the deity, not the truedeity.) It was most assuredly thought to be dead on its home turf after the he-roes of the Bloodstone Lands dealt with it. If it were the true form of agreater power, they could not have killed it because only a greater power candestroy a greater power on its home turf permanently. In other cases, thepower disperses and reassembles after a given time (laying aside the Time ofTroubles, which by its nature violates most general rules about deities).Therefore, either this creature is dead and was not truly a deity but rather adeity’s avatar or extremely powerful mortal being, or the creature was a deityand reassembled long after the heroes left. If it was a power, it still may ormay not be the same one that was until recently worshiped in Unther.

The power known as Tiamat in Unther, in any case, was forced to man-ifest as an avatar during the Time of Troubles, as were all the powers ofFaerûn. During the Godswar, she was struck down by Gilgeam, the veryjealous head of the Untheric pantheon. At this point, the deific essence ofTiamat was splintered into three pieces, one of which came to inhabit Tchaz-zar, a red dragon in Chessenta that had long been attempting to become adeity. Tchazzar finally achieved his wish and became a demipower, but feltcompelled to gather the other pieces of Tiamat’s essence into himself to in-crease his power. Little did he know that he was merely providing an avatarhost for Tiamat. When Tchazzar slew and ate the last dragon who housedpart of Tiamat’s essence, he was totally subsumed by Tiamat’s divine power.He underwent an abrupt final transformation,and Tiamat was once moremanifest in the Realms. Unfortunately, the first thing she did was to try toeven the score with Gilgeam, who had suffered a great loss in status in thewake of the “revaluation” of the powers by Ao at the end of the Godswar.Both Tiamat’s avatar and Gilgeam’s avatar died a messy death that rangedover several of the Outer Planes and ended in the obliteration of most ofthe decrepit city of Unthalass. Tiamat was evidently extremely weakenedby this encounter and has not manifested another avatar in the Realms. Inaddition, she has ceased granting spells to any of her Realms priests (who

mainly hail from Unther and Chessenta). This leads most Realms scholarsto conclude that this deity known as Tiamat has withdrawn herself from in-teraction with the Realms as one of its powers.

This does not mean that another power with the avatar form of a multi-headed, chromatic dragon that calls itself “Tiamat” cannot become a powerin the Realms. In fact, since the Tiamat of Unther is multispheric, if Ao de-cided to once again allow her a divine connection to Realmspace becauseworshipers demanded her presence, then she could return to the Realmsonce more as a deity. Because she is currently dead in the Realms does notmean she died completely; it merely means all divine connections betweenher and the crystal sphere of Realmspace are currently severed.

The Time of TroublesThe Time of Troubles was an exception to many of the normal rules for howdeities work in the Realms. During the Time of Troubles, the powers of theRealms were forced to either place all of their divine power in one mortalavatar or, if they exist on multiple planes, were forced to create avatarsupon whose existence their entire future divine connections to the Realmswere staked. Since the powers of the Realms were forced to stake so muchon their avatars, these avatars were acutely vulnerable. While the death ofan avatar did not mean the death of the power (Bane and Bhaal, at least,went through multiple avatars in succession before finally dying), powerscould only maintain themselves in one avatar form and could not connectwith their homes and power bases in the Outer Planes (if they had them).

However, during the Time of Troubles, the general rule that only a deitycan kill anything other than a demipower was not violated. Bhaal was killedby Cyric using the sword Godsbane at Boareskyr Bridge. Godsbane was Mask insword form (evidently an avatar form of Mask). Thus, a power killed a power.

Midnight used a disintegrate spell to kill Myrkul in Waterdeep and thenused a dimension door to move the dead avatar’s body over the Sea ofSwords. At the time Midnight held within her some of Mystra’s divineessence, transferred to her through a pendant in the form of Mystra’s sym-bol that merged with Midnight’s flesh during her travels. So, once again, al-though through a slightly circuitous path, a power killed a power.

Mystra died at Helm’s hand on the Celestial Staircase, trying to gain ac-cess to her home plane. Before she battled Helm, she had transferred a greatdeal of her power into her Chosen, Azuth, the Magister, and Elminster. Asshe died, she gave Midnight the pendant with some of her essence andspread the remainder of her power into the magical weave that surroundsand permeates Realmspace. Elminster was able to call back a ghost of herpresence as a sort of magic elemental to kill one avatar of Bane’s, but it wasnot strong enough to permanently destroy him, and his essence was able tobe gathered together by Myrkul and then transferred to a new avatar. Ulti-mately, Torm killed Bane in Tantras. Again, in the cases of Mystra andBane, one power killed another.

Gods who were dead at the end of the Godswar were dead in the Realmsunless at the end of the Time of Troubles Ao reinstated them himself, as hedid for Torm. However, only deities whose only worship ties throughout themany crystal spheres were to Realmspace could have completely died. Anydeity who had ties to other crystal spheres would not have ceased to exist.Ao has influence over the powers of the Realms, not the panspheric andmultidimensional universe. Rather, all divine ties between that power andthe Realms would have been severed. The power itself would not have beendead, but might as well have been for any inhabitant of Realmspace.

Being DeadWhen a power (not just an avatar) dies, it is transported mystically to theAstral Plane to float for all eternity, moldering away slowly. The power It-self drifts helplessly in the silver void of the astral, occasionally stirring as ifin slumber, but never reawakening unless special actions are taken to rem-vest it with the power to act.

Some powers are separated from their divine natures upon death; that is,their personalities and memories are separated from their powers, abilities,and true form. This phenomenon is usually caused by the interaction of amagical item of artifact or relic strength and extremely strenuous and tur-bulent magical forces in the region of the power when it dies. The artifact,intentionally or unintentionally, acts as a magnet and draws in the person-ality of the deity and entraps it. Such entrapped powers remember every-thing they did while they were alive, but cannot use any of their godly pow-ers anymore (although they can sometimes twist the powers of the itemthey are trapped in if they can convince a mortal to activate its powers).They are also extremely uncomfortable in their entrapped state as they can-not either reinvest themselves as deities or pass on to whatever afterlife thespirits of deities may have. This generally leads to a continuous struggle on

the part of the personality to escape its prison. Such imprisoned powers arecunning manipulators, treacherous liars, and devious foes.

While a power is dead, priests and any other beings (such as paladinsand rangers) who relied on the power to grant them spells receive no newspells. Pray all they might, they get not a one. Dead powers learn nothingnew, are unaware of activities in the Realms or elsewhere, can use none oftheir former divine powers, cannot move themselves from plane to plane,and, in short, are about as conscious and useful as a rock. The only thing adead power can sense, under special circumstances, is the speaking of itsname during a ceremony attempting to restore it to life.

The portfolio a dead deity ruled over in life is usually passed on to its de-stroyer. If that being is incapable of carrying out the duties because of moraland/or ethical differences or the inability to deal with such huge amounts ofpower, the portfolio is split up among the next most suitable candidateswho are already deities in the dead power’s pantheon. This second proce-dure is also followed if a deity dies of worship starvation.

If a demipower who shares a portfolio with a higher-ranked power is de-stroyed and the destroyer cannot hold the power, the power of thedemipower automatically goes to the higher-ranking owner of the portfolioin the same pantheon. Thus, if Garagos the Reaver were killed, his portfo-lio would pass on to Tempus if his killer were not a being who could becomea demipower of war.

Back From the DeadDeath has been shown to by no means be a career-ending proposition forpowers of the Realms. Powers can and do return from the dead. In order tolive again as a deity, a power must be worshiped and cannot have been ut-terly destroyed (something which is theoretically possible, the sages assure us,but which would involve massive destructive efforts on the Astral Planeafter the location and identification of the proper divine corpse-island).Then something must be done to suddenly and massively direct a great dealof worship power into the deity. This involves a prolonged ritual in whichthe dead power’s name is repeatedly invoked. Often massive quantities of of-ferings of the type most favored by the power are also made, and sometimesartifacts are used to somehow direct the power generated by the ceremonymore efficiently to the deity. Finally, Ao must decide to let the dead powerreestablish a connection with the Realms. Without the tacit consent of Ao,even the most precisely and fervently executed ritual is all for naught.

When a resurrected deity returns to the Realms, it is as a demipower.The power must work its way back up through the divine ranks to its oldstatus if it once held a higher rank. Resurrected deities receive the essential,core portfolios of their previous divine existence when they return to life.This often means that they have much of their previous portfolio strippedaway on their return.

Divine AbilitiesNo statistics for the powers and abilities of true deities are listed anywherein this book. The power of deities is impossible to quantify. Statistics quitesimply become meaningless when dealing with the powers of the Realms.

Nevertheless, some deit ies are more powerful than others. In theFORGOTTEN REALMS setting, the powers are divided into several differentstatures: greater, intermediate, lesser, and demipowers. Outside of this rank-ing system lies Ao, the over-power, also discussed below. Each class of deitypossesses certain abilities and powers, which are outlined below. These areapplicable to the deities, not their avatars. Avatars are discussed in theirown section.

Ao, the Over-PowerAo is the only over-power. He has dominion over all of Abeir-Toril’s pan-theons, human or nonhuman, in all spheres of influence. However, he hasonly been seen in the bounds of Faerûn during the Time of Troubles, and heapparently is much more circumspect in his dealings in other regions ofAbeir-Toril, as most other regions have never heard of him.

Ao lies beyond the bounds of the rankings of deities’ powers in any way.He is considered to be more powerful than other powers in that he was ableto consign almost all the Forgotten Realms deities to the surface of Faerûnduring the Time of Troubles, and he is also considered to be outside theranking system, in the same way that teachers are outside the rankings of thegrading systems they use to rate the performance of their students. Ao haslittle concern for day-to-day mortal life, but he regards the powers of theRealms as his creations. Ao requires no worshipers and grants no spells tomortals. It is doubtful that he even listens to their prayers or pleas. He servesas a watcher and a guardian over the Realms from outside of its cosmos.

Aside from his function during the Time of Troubles, the only responsi- to damage an intermediate power and a +3 or better magical weapon to bebility that Ao continues to perform in relation to the Realms pertains only able to damage a greater power. All powers are immune to any sort of magicto its deities. Since the Time of Troubles, Ao decides who is a power andthat would automatically kill them if they fail a saving throw (such as when)who is not. (See The Birth of Powers.) He decides which powers who havea saving throw vs. death magic or die or other saving throws to the same ef-died or otherwise lost their divine connection to the Realms in other waysfect is required), that would instantly kill them with no saving throw, thatare allowed to return to the Realms as deities. He also decides which of thewould disintegrate them, or that would drain energy or life levels. They aremany deities worshiped by the beings who emigrate to the Realms are al-immune to the powers of all glyphs and symbols which do nothing to themlowed to establish a divine connection with Realmspace to serve their wor-except attract their attention. They are also immune to all psionic abilitiesshipers. Finally, this involves promoting mortal beings to the status of gods.not practiced by a divine being, and even then they are immune to psionicAo may promote any mortal, sentient creature to any stature of godhood abilities used by deities of lower rank than themselves.(greater power through demipower) instantly if it accepts the responsibili- Granted Abilities: Power can grant any ability or spell of any level toties and duties of that state, but he has only exercised that ability to elevatetheir priests that does not exceed their own capabilities. It is through thismortals to other than demipower rank during the Time of Troubles,

All FORGOTTEN REALMS® Setting DeitiesAll FORGOTTEN REALMS setting deities, from greater powers to demipowers,have the powers described in this section. Although these are powerfulabilities, they are taken for granted by deities.

Portfolios: Every power has certain topics,over which it has dominion, power, and control.

things, ideas, or emotionsPowers are intimately con-

cerned about and involved in their portfolios. Deities usually are strongestin power when acting within the bounds of their portfolios. However, theportfolios of deities can change if they die and are resurrected, another

ability that deities give priests, paladins, and rangers their magical powersand spells. Note that only powers and other creatures of quasidivine status(such as tanar’ri lords) can grant spells.

Greater PowersIn addition to the abilities detailed above, greater powers can do practicallyanything. They stand at the top of the pyramid of deific power, and their re-sources are nearly limitless. Some of their additional abilities include:

Shapelifting: Greater powers can transform themselves into any ob-ject, animate or inanimate, of any size. In some cases, beings of this staturehave been known to assume planetary proportions.

Magic Resistance: Greater powers are 100% resistant to mortal mag-ics, 75% resistant to the magic of deities of lesser ranks, and 50% resistantto the spells of other greater powers.

Saving Throws: All greater powers are assumed to automatically makeall saving throws required of them. This is a reflection of their great abili-ties, mental powers, and physical stamina.

Planar Travel: Just as they can teleport across space without error, sotoo can they travel between the various planes of existence at will. These

deity in their pantheon dies, they undergo radical character shifts (Cyricgoing insane), or they ascend or drop in divine stature. Portfolios of an en-tire pantheon can undergo changes if there is a major shake-up in the pan-theon-such as one or more deities of importance dying-or a great periodof divine turmoil, like the Time of Troubles.

Within a pantheon of deities, it is important to note that more than onedeity may share identical portfolio items or even identical portfolios. How-ever, in such cases, no more than one power can ascend in stature to ahigher rank than demipower.

Greater or intermediate powers can create exact imitations of theavatars of deities whom they have subsumed (usuaIly by killing the deitythey intend to masquerade as). When a power uses a puppet avatar to ap-pear as another deity, the avatar must behave in all of its abilities (thoughnot necessarily its intent and mentality) as if it really were that of the deitybeing imitated. In addition, a power’s normal avatar form cannot use theabilities of a subsumed deity’s avatar itself. Avatars must act with the capa-bilities they were originally formed to use; if a power wants to make a newavatar with the combined abilities, it may do so, but the differences are ob-vious to both Its own worshipers and the old worshipers of any deity Itmight be imitating.

Immortality: All deities are immortal and do not age. The only way fora power to die is through special circumstances. The usual way that deitiesdie is that they are destroyed by powers of higher stature in magical or phys-ical combat. However, deities can and do return from the dead in theFORGOTTEN REALMS setting, and mortals in very extreme circumstanceshave become powers. (See the Becoming a Power and Dead Powers sec-tions of this chapter.) As a general rule in normal campaign play, any deitysuffering an attack that should destroy it simply disperses and reassembleslater. (Roll percentile dice to determine the number of days.) So, for ex-ample, a power which is seemingly torn apart by a powerful artifact wouldsimply he dispersed, only to reassemble later.

Teleportation: Deities possess the innate ablllty to instantly teleport toany point on the same plane. They can do this at will and without anychance of error.

Initiative: When dealing with mortals, all powers automatically receivethe initiative. Of course, they can choose to simply wait and see what themortals opt to do, but they may always act first if they desire.

Communication: All deities understand and can speak any language.It is assumed that this includes written and spoken languages as well asother more unusual forms of communication such as the scent language ofsaurials. All powers can speak directly and secretly to any being across anyvoid and through any physical or mystical barrier. This power transcendsthe bounds of space and planes, but not (as a rule) time.

Magic Use: All deities may use any spell of any level. This includes thespells of priests or wizards and does not require the use of spellbooks,prayers, or material, verbal, or somatic components. In short, invoking suchpowers requires the slightest act of will on the part of these incredible be-ings. They may also invent new spells or try to improvise spell variations atthe blink of an eye.

Immunities: It takes a +1 or better magical weapon to be able to dam-age a demipower or lesser power, a +2 or better magical weapon to be able

powerful beings cannot, however, travel to the Prime Material Plane.Sensing Ability: These beings are practically omniscient. They always

know what is happening on the entire plane they inhabit and the planesthat any of their or their allies’ worshipers or holy objects are currently on.They also know what is happening on the plane that anyone or anythingthat speaks one of their names or titles is on for a year after the name is spo-ken. In many cases, they can accurately predict the precise actions of mor-tals and other deities based on their vast knowledge. Unfortunately, thissensing ability can be blocked by the conscious effort of powers of equalstature.

Creation: Greater powers can create any object, animate or inanimate,they can think of. This process is draining, however, since they are con-verting their own energy stores into physical objects. Therefore, the deitymust rest for one turn per ton of mass she or he wishes to manifest. Thus,the creation of a 10-ton stone statue would require that the deity rest for 10turns (100 minutes) afterward.

Life and Death: Greater powers can kill any living mortal creaturewith but a thought. Likewise, they can bestow life upon any slain mortalbeing anywhere. Of course, another greater god can reverse this effect im-mediately if so desired.

Multitasks: Greater powers can perform any number of tasks at once.Of course, natural limitations based on their current physical form mayapply, but there IS never a penalty on their actions due to complexity.

Avatars: Greater powers can employ up to 10 avatars at a time, movingthem between planes at will. If one is destroyed, they require one day tomake another.

Intermediate PowersIntermediate powers wield a great deal of power, but are by no means aspowerful as greater powers. They often serve greater powers or are ambi-tious deities trying to work their way up to the status of greater power. Theirpowers include:

Shapeshifting: Intermediate powers can change into any object, ani-mate or inanimate. The limitations on their powers prevent the object frombeing bigger than the largest natural or enchanted item of its size already inexistence. Thus, an intermediate power could assume the shape of a hugebull elephant, but not one larger than the largest ones found in nature.

Magic Resistance: Intermediate powers are 95% resistant to mortalmagic, 70% resistant to the magic of deities of lesser stature, 50% resistantto the magic of other intermediate powers, and 25% resistant to the magicof greater powers.

Saving Throws: Intermediate powers have a saving throw of 2 in allcategories. Thus, they only fail on a natural roll of 1.

Planar Travel: Intermediate powers have the same ability to travel be-tween planes as greater powers. They are unable to enter the Prime MaterialPlane, but always arrive exactly where they wish with no chance for error.

Sensing Ability: Intermediate powers always know what is happeningwithin 100 miles of their current position. In addition, they can extendtheir senses and learn what is happening within 100 miles of any of their ortheir allies’ worshipers or their or their allies’ holy objects. They can alsoextend their senses to know what is happening within 100 miles of whereanyone or anything that speaks one of their names or titles currently is for amonth after the name is spoken. The sensing ability can be blocked by theconscious effort of powers of equal or greater stature.

Creation: While they cannot create objects out of nothing, intermedi-ate powers can summon or create a duplicate of any object they hold, pro-viding suitable materials are available on the same plane. This is a tiringprocess, however, and they must rest one turn for every 100 pounds of theobject’s weight.

Life and Death: Intermediate powers, while unable to directly causethe death of a living creature, can arrange accidents that can kill any mor-tal being anywhere. They can raise any previously living being from thedead at will (with automatic success), regardless of the time that has passedsince that being died or the current location or condition of the body.

Multitasks: Intermediate powers can perform up to 100 tasks at oncewithout suffering any penalties of any sort. Obviously, there may be physicallimitations unposed on this based on the current physical form of the deity.

Avatars: Intermediate powers can use up to five avatars at a time, mov-ing them between planes at will. If one is destroyed, an intermediate powerrequires seven days to make another.

Lesser PowersLesser powers often serve other powers in the capacity of helpers. They arethe least powerful of the upper echelons of divinity, in that they are entitledto exclusivity in their portfolios among all other deities of their rank andabove. Their powers are mighty, but in no way equal those of greater or in-termediate powers.

Shapeshifting: Lesser powers can change into any animate object theydesire. Their power is restricted, however, so that their new form is an aver-age example of the creature (with the addition of some superficial deific“special effects,” perhaps). Thus, if a lesser power wished to become a stal-lion, it would look much like any other stallion.

Magic Resistance: Lesser powers are 90% resistant to mortal magic,60% resistant to magic wielded by powers of lesser ranks, 45% resistant tothe magic of powers of same stature, and 20% resistant to the magic of pow-ers of higher stature.

Saving Throws: Lesser powers have a saving throw of 3 in all cate-gories. Thus, they only fail their saving throws on natural rolls of 1 or 2 un-less their avatars’ saving throws are better.

Planar Travel: Like greater and intermediate powers, lesser powers cantravel between planes at will. No physical or material barrier can hindersuch transit, and they have no chance to arrive anywhere other than exactlywhere they intended. They are unable to enter the Prime Material Plane.

Sensing Ability: Lesser powers always know what is happening within10 miles of themselves. They can extend their senses to include knowledgeof all that is transpiring within 10 miles of any of their worshipers or any oftheir holy objects. They can also extend their senses to know what is hap-pening within 10 miles of where anyone or anything that speaks one oftheir names or titles currently is for a day after the name is spoken. Thissensing ability can be blocked by the conscious effort of powers of equalstature or the unconscious desires of those of greater stature.

Creation: Lesser powers cannot create or duplicate any object out ofnothing. But they know where to find any object that they desire that al-ready exists. If they desire an object that does not exist, they can sense thelocation of those who can manufacture it. Often lesser powers have al-liances with intermediate or greater powers that allow them to rely on theirmore powerful friends for assistance with the creation of objects.

Life and Death: Lesser powers share the ability to raise any previouslyliving mortal being from the dead. They can do this at will and across anydistance or barrier no matter what the current condition of the body.

Multitasks: Lesser powers can perform up to five tasks at once withoutpenalties of any sort. Obviously, in some forms they may encounter physicallimitations to the number of actions that can be attempted.

Avatars: Lesser powers can only use two avatars at a time, moving themthroughout the planes at will. If one is destroyed, it requires one month tomake another.

DemipowersDemipowers are the least powerful deities of any pantheon. Deities hold therank of demipower when they first are elevated to divine status, when theyhave just returned from the dead, when they share a portfolio or an elementof their portfolio with a power of the upper echelons of divine rank, andwhen they simply do not have a large enough following to gain greaterstature. Frequently, demipowers are mortals who have earned divine statusor powers who are very strong among only a small group of people (Uthgaramong the Uthgardt barbarians) or in only a small region (Shiallla in theHigh Forest). They have the following powers:

Shapeshifting: Demipowers can change only into animate objects ap-propriate to their nature and portfolios. Their new form is an average ex-ample of the creature (with the addition of some superficial deific “specialeffects,” perhaps).

Magic Resistance: Demipowers are 70% resistant to mortal magic,40% resistant to the magic of other demipowers, and 20% resistant to themagic of powers of greater stature.

Saving Throws: Demipowers have a base saving throw of 4 in all cate-gories. Thus, they fail their saving throw only on a natural roll of 3 or lessunless their avatar’s saving throws are better.

Planar Travel: Unlike other powers, demipowers can travel betweenplanes only via magical spells and devices. Because of this limitation, theytend to remain on one plane more than any of the other types of powers.

Sensing Ability: Demipowers have the ability to know what is happen-ing within one mile of themselves, any of their own worshipers, or any oftheir holy objects. They can also extend their senses to know what is hap-pening within one mile of where anyone or anything that speaks one oftheir names or titles currently is for an hour after the name is spoken. Thissensing ability can be blocked by the conscious effort of powers of equalstature or the unconscious desires of those of greater stature.

Creation: Demipowers also cannot create or duplicate any object out ofnothing. They must rely on information that they gather through theirsensing abilities to try and find any object that they desire that already ex-ists, or use their own time and effort to create it from raw materials or tofind a being that can do so for them. Often demipowers have alliances withintermediate or greater powers that allow them to rely on their more pow-erful friends for assistance with the creation of objects.

Life and Death: Demipowers share the ability to raise any previouslyliving mortal being from the dead. They can do this at will no matter whatthe current condition of the body but must have either an avatar or a holyrelic present in the location of the body to raise it.

Multitasks: Demipowers can perform any two tasks at once withoutpenalty. In rare cases, the physical form they select may limit this further,but that is seldom the case.

Avatars: Most demipowers can use but one avatar at a time. If thisavatar is destroyed, they require one full year to fashion another. Somedemipowers are unable to employ avatars or choose not to do so.

AvatarsWhen powers have vital business upon the Prime Material Plane, they mustsend avatars to act for them. An avatar is simply a manifestation of a deityupon the Prime Material Plane. This manifestation is not nearly as power-ful as a power and is merely a projection of a deity’s power to the Prime Ma-terial Plane. An almost infinitely vast gulf of power lies between the godand the avatar. The avatar embodies just a small portion of the god’s power.However, avatars share many of the abilities of powers. They have the sameteleportation abilities, initiative advantage, communication abilities, andimmunities as all deities do (discussed earlier in the All FORGOTTEN

REALMS Setting Deities subsection of the Divine Abilities section).Unlike a power, an avatar can be destroyed. This is never looked upon

kindly by the true god, and often results in divine retribution. Althoughavatars may take many different forms, the number that can he created andthe frequency with which they may be replaced depend upon a power’sstature (explained previously). The statistics for a deity’s avatar given inFaiths & Avatars are for the most common avatar form or forms the poweruses. Dungeon Masters are free to have the deities they use manifest inavatars of appropriate might and form for the flavor of campaign they runand for the instance in which the avatar is encountered.

Magical Items: Often, avatars possess magical items of incrediblepower. Unless stated otherwise. these items always teleport back to thedeity when the avatar is destroyed. Deities may intentionally lend theiravatars’ magical items to beings who are doing them a great service or fortheir (own inscrutable purposes, but an avatar’s weapon cannot be stolen

away from it by a mortal, nor can it be lost or destroyed without the inter-vention of another divine force.

Class Limits and Statistic Bonuses: Avatars are unaffected by manyrestrictions that apply to normal characters. For example, they often haveattribute scores over 18 (with their attendant bonuses and immunities),magic resistance, can be of any class without regard to alignment, dual-, ormulticlass restrictions, and can even possess a character class while in ani-mal form. They receive the Constitution bonuses that warriors receiveeven if one of their classes is not a warrior class. They receive a damage (butnot a THAC0) bonus for Strengths of over 18.

THAC0s: Always use the listed THAC0 for an avatar. They do not re-ceive any THAC0 bonuses for Strength or magical weapons. They do notreceive any penalties for nonproficiency in certain weapons, nor do they re-ceive any attack bonuses for specialization. (Consult the Extended Calcu-lated THAC0s table at the end of this chapter for THAC0 scores throughlevel 40.) Note that THAC0 scores in the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting cannever exceed -10 for beings rated with character classes; certain monstersmay exceed this.

Armor Class: Avatar armor is only for show (though it may be magicalif loaned to a mortal) and does not contribute to an avatar’s Armor Class.While some avatars manifest wearing armor and some do not, the tough-ness of an avatar is integral to its divine nature, and its clothing is but a col-orful picture for the minds of mortals. Note that Armor Classes in theFORGOTTEN REALMS setting can never exceed -12.

less otherwise specified. They do not need to make any gestures, speak of anywords, or use any material components. When they decide to cast a spell, itsimply goes off. All avatars with spellcasting ability can cast one spell perround in addition to their normal physical attacks. If they do not attackphysically, they can cast two spells in a round.

The spheres or schools to which avatars have access are listed in theirdescriptions. Avatars always have access to any spell in the school orsphere, providing they are of sufficient character level rating to access it.This means that they do not have to have memorized or prayed for particu-lar spells like characters must; they can pick from the whole breadth ofspells they have access to on demand.

Avatars can only cast the same number of spells of a given level that awizard or priest of comparable rank would be able to cast. For example, anavatar with the abilities of a 17th-level mage and access to theillusion/phantasm school of magic could cast five illusion/phantasm spellseach from spell levels one through five, three illusion/phantasm spells eachfrom spell levels six and seven, and any two illusion/phantasm spells oflevel eight. (Consult the Extended Wizard Spell Progression tables at thePriest Spell Progression, and Extended Bard Spell Progression tables at theend of this chapter for spell progression up through level 40. Paladinsachieve maximum spell progression at 20th level, and rangers achieve max-imum spell progression at 16th level, as indicated in the Player’s Handbook.)A Wisdom score normally insufficient to allow a mortal access to 6th- or7th-level priest spells does not prevent an avatar from using them. Avatarswith Wisdom scores of 16 or less can still access 6th- and 7th-level spellsprovided that they are rated as priests of sufficient level to cast them.

If avatars have multiple character classes in one character class group,they receive the number of spells for the class with the highestlevel only. Forexample, if an avatar is rated as a 23rd-level cleric and a 16th-level druid, theavatar would receive the number of priest spells due to a 23rd-level cleric.

If avatars have classes from two different character class groups thatwould give them access to the same kind of spells, they again receive thenumber of spells for the class with the highest level only. For example, if anavatar is rated as a 19th-level mage and a 17th-level bard, the avatar wouldreceive the number of wizard spells due a 19th-level mage.

Members of the Clergy

Character Classes: Avatars’ statistics are primarily derived from thecharacter class levels with which they are rated. When they belong to mul-tiple classes, they receive the best possible calculation from any class towhich they belong. For instance, if an avatar is a 35th-level fighter and a25th-level cleric, it receives a weapon specialization bonus for number ofattacks, the hit points of a fighter, a cleric’s spells, the ability to turn un-dead, and saving throws from whichever class is most beneficial. Specificinformation in an avatar entry always has precedence over implicit abilitiesgiven to a character class.

Thief Skills and Nonweapon Proficiencies: Avatars whose class rat-ings give them thief skills (pick pockets, open locks, find/remove traps,move silently, hide in shadows, detect noise, climb walls, read languages)automatically succeed at any use of those skills, so specific percentages arenot listed. Likewise, avatars whose class ratings give them nonweapon pro-ficiencies, such as tracking, automatically succeed at the use of those profi-ciencies if conditions would at all allow success. In general, avatars alwayssucceed at any nonweapon proficiency or ability check except on a roll of20, and they succeed no matter what if the ability lies within the purview oftheir deity’s portfolio (subject to the DM’s interpretation of the breadth ofwhat a portfolio encompasses). Avatars are assumed to be proficient in allnonweapon proficiencies that are suggested, required, given as bonuses, orimplied in the duties of any members of their clergy.

Damage: Many avatars use weapons in combat. When they use oneweapon, the weapon’s damage is listed, followed by the weapon’s name andthe avatar’s Strength bonus in parentheses, along with a notation aboutany weapon specialization damage bonus the avatar may have. If morethan two different weapons can be employed by an avatar, “weapon” plusthe avatar’s Strength bonus and any specialization bonus are noted, andinformation about the weapons are given in the “Special Attacks/De-fenses” paragraph that follows an avatar’s statistics. If attacks are made un-armed, then only Strength bonuses are noted. Unarmed damage for anavatar’s fist is 1d10 points of damage, but avatars rated with warrior classesdo not receive multiple attacks with their fists per round. They only re-ceive these attacks with a weapon.

Regardless of the weapon bonus normally required to hit a creature or thelevel of enchantment of the weapon an avatar is using, an avatar can damageany creature that it successfully attacks. For instance, an unarmed avatar couldstill successfully attack and damage a greater mummy that a mortal wouldhave to use a +1 magical weapon to injure. The divine nature of the avatar farexceeds the potency of even a +5 magical weapon for these purposes.

Movement: Most avatars have the ability to move only over land.However, some can also fly, swim, or burrow, often at the same rate that theavatar moves over land. In these cases, the additional movement mode isindicated by an abbreviation following the movement rate, like this: MV15, Sw 15. Flying avatars are always maneuverability class A.

Special Abilities: Often, avatars have special abilities in addition totheir normal class abilities. These are described in the individual entriesunder “Special Att/Def.”

Spellcasting and Spells: Many avatars have the ability to cast spells.Such avatars can cast spells while in any form, even that of an animal, un-

In the Realms, most deities have both clerics and some sort of specialtypriest among their clergy. Quite a few churches also have members of otherpriest classes and even classes from other character groups than the priestgroup among their clergy. Other churches have fighting orders that are nottechnically part of the church hierarchy but serve the church nonetheless.These are often led by or composed of paladins, rangers, crusaders, or mili-tant specialty priests such as those of Tempus. (In addition, a religion canhave lay members of the clergy who have no character class. They aretreated as lst-level fighters unless otherwise specified.)

This state of affairs may seem confusing at first. Basically, what players inthe FORGOTTEN REALMS setting need to remember is that the characterclass of a player character does not necessarily preclude him or her frombeing a member of the clergy—that is, from being part of a church’s hierar-chy. Sister Loriel who tends to the faithful of a shrine of Mielikki could be aranger, and Brother Morgan Starfox who ministers in the afternoon tothose worshiping at the Tower of Balance, Mystra’s temple in Silverymoon,is as likely to be a mage as he is a cleric, specialty priest of Mystra, or evenbard. To put it plainly, the terms priest, cleric, specialty priest, and clergymembers are used with specific meanings in this text. Priest is a characterclass group. Clerics, crusaders, druids, specialty priests, mystics, monks, andshamans are types of priests. Clergy members (or clergy, or members of theclergy) can be of any character class, including priests. When a conditionapplies to all priests of a deity, it does not necessarily, therefore, apply to allclergy members.

Characters whose class comes from the priest character class group mustbe members of the clergy and must serve a particular faith. They gain cer-tain benefits from their deities directly, such as spells, and in return theyhave the most serious responsibilities of all members of the clergy.

Members of other classes do no have to be members of the clergy. Infact, it is recommended that only nonplayer characters of other characterclass groups than the priest group be members of the clergy to avoid playerconfusion over a character’s function in the AD&D game. If a player char-acter of other than the priest character class group chooses to be a memberof the clergy, that character must hold to the duties and responsibilities ofmembers of the clergy given below, but does not gain the character classabilities of a priest of the faith.

Because not all members of the clergy in the Realms have the abilities ofthe priest character class group, all ceremonies and rituals of a church thatcarry with them direct magical manifestations of a deity’s power must be car-ried out by members of a faith who are priests. While this may seem artificialin game terms, it is not viewed as such within the world view of the Realms.Clergy members know, based on the talents and skills they have learned inlife and the blessings that their deity has bestowed upon them, what they arecapable of doing. They would not dream of performing a sacred ritual theywere not duly suited to enact in a binding and appropriate way.

Most powers expect a great deal of service from their clergy. First andforemost among the many obligations of members of the clergy is the dutyto work toward their deities’ goals. Second, they must behave in a mannerexemplary of their faiths’ teachings. Even when conducting everyday busi-ness, the clergy must stand out as shining examples of the values their pa-tron powers advocate.

Another important duty is the obligation members of the clergy have toexpand the influence of their faiths. No matter where they are, they shouldmiss no opportunity to explain the teachings of their religions to the unini-tiated, taking special care to emphasize the rewards worshiping their deitiescan bestow. In accordance with this duty, members of the clergy must alwaysconduct themselves in a manner that reflects properly upon their deities.

Members of the clergy in the Realms are generally divided into twogroups within their faith’s organization, though members of one group eas-ily and often cross into the other group. Hierarchy-bound clergy are thosewho are usually tied down to a specific location, such as a temple, shrine,grove, or abbey. They work primarily to the good of that location, thechurch, and the community, though not necessarily in the order. Missionclergy (often referred to as adventuring clergy) are at-large agents entrustedto wander the length and breadth of the Realms spreading the basic tenetsand beliefs of their faith.

Most members of the clergy who are not of the priest character classgroup are hierarchy-bound clergy. Clergy members found in adventuringparties, working alongside merchants, or in mercenary companies are mis-sion clergy. However, the line is a fuzzy one, such that a specialty priestwho has spent his life in the hierarchy may suddenly decide, for the goodof his order, to engage in a quest for an artifact, gather a group of like-minded adventurers, and set off as a mission clergy. Similarly, a cleric whohas spent her life in adventuring companies, tithing a large part of herearnings to setting up shrines for the power she follows, may determine toretire to a temple to use the experience she has gamed to teach others, andenter the church hierarchy in that fashion. Most faiths are fairly loose withsuch restrictions, requiring only that a member of the clergy get the ap-proval of a superior (or the power being venerated, if the clergy member isthe head of his or her own temple or faith) before joining or leaving thehierarchy.

All members of the clergy, especially mission clergy, are expected to supporttheir orders. Usually, this takes the form of tithing—giving part or all of thetreasure they find or earn to their orders. The typical tithe for a member of theclergy is 10%. Some orders may demand more or require less of their clergy.Clergy members may also be asked by their superiors to undertake dangerousmissions on their orders’ behalves, and except under dire circumstances, theyare expected to accept such missions and perform them promptly.

Clergy Who Change Deities: Members of the clergy who are neitherpriests nor receive spells directly from their deities may occasionally fall awayfrom service to their deities or even decide to no longer worship their deities.This results in them leaving the church and no longer being members of thechurch hierarchy. All special benefits that such clergy members might havegamed due to their positions are lost. In general, they will he treated withpity, indifference, or scorn by most faiths, but not not be either hunted downor helped so long as they do not join another church. At this point, they aretreated more as if they had changed their job than as if they had changedtheir deity. Simply leaving the clergy carries no experience point penalty ifthe clergy member does not receive spells directly from his or her deity. (Anycharacter class who receives spells directly from a deity—such as rangers andpaladins—is treated under the rules for priests, given below.)

If they actually attempt to join another church, the behavior of theirformer fellows will change. Depending on the tone of their former faith andthe new church that the ex-clergy member has joined, other members ofthe clergy will treat them as tragically misguided and attempt to redeemthem, as hopeless transgressors and ignore them, or as outright heretics andattempt to kill them. They may be cast out from their churches perma-nently, without hope of rejoining them, or they may he otherwise censured.

If a clergy member tries to transfer his or her service to another deity andhas been a worthy servant of the first, there is a 60% chance that the church

hierarchy accepts the character into the clergy. Such a transfer is always ac-companied by a loss of enough experience points to place the clergy memberin the midrange of the level below his or her current level. This chance ofacceptance is worse than for that of a priest who changes deities becausethese new clergy members are being judged on their performance and loyaltyas servants of a faith. They have already proven by their actions that theircommitment to such a life-task may not be the highest, and they can exhibitno direct outward manifestations of a true dedication to and acceptance bytheir new deity such as a priest could by being able to cast priest spells or not(thus directly showing divine favor or disfavor). The chances of their beingtaken at their word are thus much lower.

Transgressions and Penance: Behavior violations of alignment codes,neglecting to perform the proper rituals (among those a clergy member isqualified to perform), or failing to strive toward fulfilling the deity’s goalsare examples of transgressions. These transgressions by a member of theclergy who does not receive spells directly from a deity are punished by thehead of a temple, shrine, or faith by assigning to the transgressor an act ofpenance to be completed, such as fasting, meditation, the gift of an amountof money to the order, an offering of another type preferred by the power,the gift of at least one moderately powerful magical item to the faith (neverto be used by the transgressor again), and/or the performance of some dan-gerous quest on the deity’s behalf. Such infractions are also punished by lossof status within a church until the penance is completed, during whichtime transgressors are only assigned to perform menial tasks as their dutieswithin the faith. Transgressions caused by involuntary alignment changesmay be atoned for through the casting of an atonement spell upon the trans-gressor, and true repentance for a serious willful transgression is sealed bythe successful casting of an atonement upon a transgressor.

Members of the clergy who commit heresy or willfully disobey or ignoretheir deities are cast from the church. They cannot join the clergy of an-other faith because of the reputations they carry. Penance, if their faithsallow it, must be accompanied by a complete sacrifice of all possessions saveone set of normal clothing and one nonmagical weapon, the performanceof whatever difficult, humiliating, or costly task the church sets before suchtransgressors, and the humble receipt of an atonement upon the task’s com-pletion. (Tasks that are literally impossible are not assigned as penance.) Atthis point, the church considers the act expunged, but it is not obliged toaccept the transgressor into the clergy again, although she or he is againtreated as one of the faithful.

Priests and DeitiesAs one might expect, the relationship between priests and their deities is ofthe utmost importance. It is through their deities that priests receive theirspecial powers and the ability to cast spells.

These blessings have their price, however. Priests are expected to ob-serve all the requirements of being members of the clergy, and priests areexpected to perform certain rituals, duties, and services not necessarily re-quired of other members of their faith’s clergy, depending on their religion.Many of these are discussed in the individual deity entries through thisbook, but DMs are free to add to, reduce, or revise these rituals and respon-sibilities of the priesthood as they see fit.

Because priests have such a personal relationship with their deity, ratherthan just a personal relationship with their faith or church, as is required ofother members of the clergy, they also face more stringent penalties for tail-ing in the performance of their duties, turning from their religion, or failingtheir deity.

Changing Deities: Priests may occasionally fall away from the worshipand service of their deities. This always results in a loss of powers and spells,at least temporarily. If a priest transfers his or her worship to another deityand has been a worthy follower of the first, there is a 75% chance that thesecond deity accepts the character as a priest. Such a transfer is always ac-companied by a loss of enough experience points to place the priest in themidrange of the level below his or her current level. These same rules fordeity change apply to other members of a deity’s clergy who receive spellsand powers directly from their deities who change deities, such as paladinsand rangers.

Transgressions and Penance: Of course, priests and others who havea direct relationship with their deities (such as paladins and rangers) cananger their powers in many ways other than a change of loyalties. Behaviorviolations of alignment codes are usually considered at least minor trans-gressions and are punished by the temporary loss of low-level spells. Minortransgressions can usually be corrected by an act of penance, such as fasting,meditation, the gift of a minor amount of money to the order, or an offeringof another type preferred by the power.

Neglecting to perform the proper rituals or failing to strive toward ful-filling the deity’s goals are examples of moderate transgressions. Such in-fractions are punished by the loss of granted powers and high-level spellsand can only be rectified through major penance. In addition to a period offasting or meditation, such priests must each give at least one moderatelypowerful magical item to their order (never to be used by them again),and/or undertake some dangerous quest on their deity’s behalf.

Priests who commit heresy, a second moderate transgression, or who will-fully disobey or ignore their deities have committed a major transgression.Such transgressions are always punished by an immediate and total loss of allpriestly powers and spells. If the deity is a neutral or evil one and the offenseserious enough, major transgressions may even be punished by death in what-ever form the deity has the power to arrange. Penance, if the deity allows it,must be accompanied by a complete sacrifice of all possessions save one set ofnormal clothing and one nonmagical weapon. Then such errant priests mustundertake a seemingly impossible quest involving a high risk of death and do-nate all treasure recovered, including magical items, to their deities’ orders.

Fortunately, the path for most priests is a narrow but well-marked one.For a true and faithful priest, the commission of even a minor transgressionshould be a rare thing. By and large, the majority of priests should neverhave to make penance for anything worse than a minor transgression.

Nonhuman Clergy, Priests, & FollowersThe powers presented in Faiths & Avatars serve primarily humans or havesignificant human followings. Some human powers allow nonhumans tojoin their clergy, their priesthoods, or otherwise call upon them for spells.Two such faiths are those of Tymora and Gond, which permit halflings andgnomes, respectively, into the priesthood.

Most faiths al low nonhuman worshipers, although the nonhumandeities often frown upon members of what they consider “their” peopleworshiping outside their pantheon. This divine disapproval is usually com-municated downward into a nonhuman pantheon’s followers, resulting in anegative attitude ranging from disdain and disapproval to outright scornand hostility that members of a nonhuman race have toward those of theirpeople who worship “foreign powers.” Because of the social battles they faceamong their own, such nonhuman followers are relatively few. Obviously,half-elves are free to choose their faith from either the human pantheons orthe elf pantheon—or, where appropriate, the drow pantheon.

If nonhuman members of the priesthood, the clergy in general, or ordersaffiliated with a church are allowed, the fact is mentioned in the entries foreach deity given throughout this book. If a particular deity is not men-tioned as accepting nonhuman priests, clergy, or other servants, thenDungeon Masters should use their best judgment about allowing a nonhu-man player character to follow a particular power. In general, if it wouldmake the game more enjoyable for the person involved, a rationale for suchcharacters worshiping a particular deity can be worked out between a DMand his or her player, and the player character can be allowed to serve thepower the player wishes. This makes the player happy and provides aunique history for the player’s character that a DM can use as an adventurehook later in the campaign. The DM is never obligated to do so, however.

Running Realms PowersMany Realms novels have depicted the powers of the Realms as being in-volvcd in all sorts of intimate details of Realms life. These are the behaviorsof characters in novels. They are supposed to be dramatic, bold, and biggerthan life. Novels need to bring the reader in close to the inner workings oftheir characters’ minds so that readers can identify with the novels’ leadingcharacters. They need to accomplish their storytelling task with a limitedcast of characters to keep the experience of the story intimate and coherentfor a reader. That does not mean that the powers of the Realms need to talkroutinely to anyone face-to-face in a DM’s own campaign. Just because thenovels about the Realms have often spotlighted the powers does not meanAD&D game campaign play has to.

The most important principle in having deities in a fantasy role-playingcampaign is to use them judiciously and sparingly in one’s campaign play. Itis certainly possible to run a high-level role-playing game in which deitiescommonly appear for the purpose of helping player characters. But such acampaign usually stops being fun for the characters very quickly. TheAD&D game is designed for a more mortal level of play. The player charac-ters are heroic not because of the tremendous powers they might or mightnot accumulate, but because of the terrible risks they take in the face of im-minent death. To use a power to save characters from those risks tune andtime again is to sully the heart of the game.

The powers of the Realms do tend, however, to be more active in thebusiness of mortals than the powers of many crystal spheres. They are anosy and roisterous bunch, sometimes wandering about the Realms in dis-guise or in avatar form for their purposes. They are prying and aloof, pettyand noble, lusty and pure, proud and humble, foolish and wise, loyal andtreacherous, ambitious and self-sacrificing, contentious and placid, mercifuland strict, greedy and generous, loving and hate-filled, sane and insane, vi-olent and pacifistic. In many ways, they are like the powers depicted inclassical Greek mythology in their all-too-human foibles and contradictorybehavior. In general, a good working rule of thumb for the behavior ofdeities in the Realms is to imagine the actions of powers from all of themyths—Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Indian, Finnish, Norse, Sumerian, Baby-lonian, Chinese, Japanese, African, and others. If a deity from any myth isspoken of as having once behaved in a similar way, it is appropriate to basea Realms power’s actions and behavior in a similar fashion—within thebounds of good taste.

Format of Deity Entries

The entries for the powers detailed in Faiths & Avatars follow a standardformat. Notes on that format are given here in a format mimicking thatused in the text:

Name of Deity(Common Title and Epithets)Power Ranking of Plane Name, AlignmentAlignment abbreviations used throughout each deity’s entry are: LG=law-ful good, NG=neutral good, CG=chaotic good, LN=lawful neutral,CN=chaotic neutral, N=true neutral, LE=lawful evil, NE=neutral evil,CE=chaotic evil.

PORTFOLIO: These are the topics, things, ideas, or emotions overwhich the deity has dominion, power, and control andabout which the deity is concerned.

ALIASES: Other names the power is known by are given here.These may be “puppet gods” the deity has wholly sub-sumed, regional names, older names, or simply alternatenames.

DOMAIN NAME: The layer of the plane the deity’s domain is found on islisted here, followed by the domain’s name. If the planethe domain is on is undivided, the plane name is re-peated. (Note that some planes also have layers with thesame name as the plane they are part of.)

SUPERIOR: If the deity takes orders from another power, that poweris listed here.

ALLIES: Traditional allies are given here.FOES: Traditional foes are given here. Powers the god rivals or

competes with are not foes. These are discussed in thetext, not here.

SYMBOL: A brief description of the deity’s symbol is given here.WOR. ALIGN.: The alignments required of dedicated worshipers of the

deity are given here. Powers generally try to be as liberalas possible to attract as much worship as they can.

This introductory paragraph describes the way a power is generally depicted(or actually looks) if it is different from the deity’s avatar form. It details ad-ditional titles and epithets the power is known by, common worshipers ofthe power, and the qualities attributed to the deity, such as its general de-meanor, hearing, and personality. It also discusses any relations between thepower and other powers not covered by the “Allies” and “Foes” entriesabove.

Deity�s Avatar (Character classes and levels)This paragraph describes the avatar’s appearance and the schools or spheresof magic from which it may draw spells. When discussed in this avatar sec-tion, a deity’s avatar is spoken of as the deity, not as “the avatar of so-and-so,” to economize on space. The avatar’s statistics use this format and theseabbreviations:

AC Armor Class; MV movement rate, Fl flying (maneuverability class is assumed toalways be A), Sw swimming, Br burrowing; HP hit points; THAC0 To hit ArmorClass 0; #AT number of attacks per roundDmg typical damage done per attack (weapon, if one is used, Strength bonus nota-tion, weapon specialization notation)

MR magic resistance; SZ Size notation (size in feet)STR Strength score, DEX Dexterity score, CON Constitution score, INT Intelligencescore, WIS Wisdom score, CHA Charisma scoreSpells P: number of priest spells per spell level including Wisdom spell bonuses,W: number of wizard spells per spell levelSaves (saving throws) PPDM poison, paralyzation, or death magic saving throw;RSW rod, staff, or wand saving throw; PP petrification or polymorph saving throw;BW breath weapon saving throw; Sp spell saving throw

Special Att/Def: This entry discusses anyspecial attacks or defenses the avatar has, itsmagical items of note, and any particularlydistinctive tactics it tends to use.

O t h e r M a n i f e s t a t i o n sThis section discusses other manifestations ofa power aside from its avatar. These manifesta-tions are much more commonly encounteredthan the actual avatar of a deity. They oftenconvey benefits to the faithful or indicatefavor, direction, danger, agreement, ordisagreement by the deity. Sometimesthey are merely used to comfort and as-sure then worshipers that they are awareof a situation or appreciate their follow-ers’ devotion.

The ChurchIn the headings in this section, the following abbreviations are used for char-acter classes: C=cleric, Cru=crusader, D=druid, SP=specialty priest,Mon=monk, Mys=mystic, Sha=shaman, F=fighter, Pal=paladin, R=ranger,W=all wizard classes, M=mage, Abj=abjurer, Con=conjurer, Div=diviner,Enc=enchanter, Ill=illusionist, Inv=invoker, Nec=necromancer, Tra=trans-muter, Spell=spellsinger, T=thief, B=bard. Note that the spellsinger wizardcharacter class is described in Wizards and Rogues of the Realms.CLERGY: The different character classes open to members of the

clergy are listed here. Always remember that a religioncan have lay members of the clergy who have no charac-ter class. They are treated as 1st-level fighters unless oth-erwise specified.

CLERGY’S ALIGN.: Members of any class who belong to the clergy must beone of these alignments (within the constraints of thealignments to which the class is restricted). The allowedalignments of specialty priests are specifically noted inthat section.

TURN UNDEAD: Abbreviations for all character classes of clergy andwhether they can turn undead

CMND. UNDEAD: Abbreviations for all character classes of clergy andwhether they can command undead

Bonus proficiencies or other game-relevant material applicable to allpriestly members of the religion’s clergy are presented in this introductoryparagraph.

Following paragraphs in this overview of the church discuss the regard ofthe public for the religion, typical details of temple or shrine construction,names different forms of the clergy call themselves by, distribution break-downs of kinds of character classes within the clergy, church hierarchy, andtitles of different ranks of clergy. Further information on the church is bro-ken down into subheadings:

Dogma: Here are detailed the beliefs, tenets, doctrines and sayings ofthe religion.

Day-to-Day Activities: Typical activities of thechurch are described here. This entry covers whatthe church does, as opposed to what the religion be-lieves. This entry also discusses what believers andpriests of the religion are expected to tithe or donateto the church or sacrifice to the deity.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: Impor-tant ceremonies and major holy days in the reli-gion are discussed in this entry.

Major Centers of Worship: This entry de-scribes major centers of the deity’s worship. Thesemay be the largest temples of the god, those withthe most far-reaching influence in the religion, orthose of historical importance in the religion.

Affiliated Orders: Knightly and military orders affiliated with thechurch are briefly discussed in this entry. They are named and the charac-ter classes their members belong to are mentioned. The functions and du-ties of these orders and other information pertaining to their relationshipto the church are also touched on briefly.

Priestly Vestments: This entry describes the ceremonial vestments ofpriests of the deity and any differences between the vestments of differentkinds of priests who serve the deity. Differences in garb according to rank orin different regions are also discussed here. Typical coloration or construc-tion materials of symbols and holy symbols of the god are mentioned here ifthey are important.

Adventuring Garb: This entry describes the typical priest’s adventur-ing garb. It also discusses any differences between the adventurtng garb ofdifferent kinds of priests who serve the deity.

Specialty Priests (Class name, if applicable)The experience progression table for all priest types is found in Appendix 1:Priest Classes.REQUIREMENTS:

PRIME REQ.:

A L I G N M E N T :

WEAPONS:A R M O R:M AJOR SPHERES:

M INOR SPHERES:

MAGICAL ITEMS:

REQ. PROFS:

BONUS PROFS:

Minimum ability requirements for this type of specialtypriestAbilities that must have a score of 16 or above for thecharacter to receive a 10% experience point bonusSpecialty priests must be the same alignment as theirgod, unless specifically noted differently here.Types of weapons specialty priests are allowed to useTypes of armor specialty priests are allowed to useSpheres of priest spells to which specialty priests havemajor accessSpheres of priest spells to which specialty priests haveminor accessThe kinds of magical items specialty priests are allowedto useNonweapon or weapon proficiencies specialty priestsmust purchase with proficiency slots at 1st levelNonweapon or weapon proficiencies specialty priests re-ceive without spending a proficiency slot. Specialtypriests may spend additional slots as normal to improvetheir skill.

• This section contains a list of special granted powers given to specialtypriests of this god. Clerics do not receive these abilities unless that factis specially noted. (Usually changes to other priest classes of a deity arenoted earlier in the first text paragraph of the description of thechurch.)

• Spell-like abilities are often expressed in terms of the spells they are sim-liar to. When specialty priests receive such an ability—often expressedin terms such as “the priest is able to cast light (as the 1st-level priestspell) once a day”—it is usable in addition to their normal spell comple-ments. It should not be read as a restriction on the number of times thatthe priest can cast the comparable spell per day or per tenday. Suchspell-like abilities require no verbal, somatic, or material components touse, and function as innate abilities in combat (discussed in the InnateAbilities subsection of the Special Attacks section of the Combat chap-ter of the DUNGEON MASTER® Guide). They have an initiative modifierof +3, no tnatter what the casting time of the spell they resemble is.

• If any races other than human are commonly allowed as specialty priestsby the power, a bullet point in this section notes this.

S p e l l sHere are listed the religion-specific spells ofa faith. Unless the Dungeon Master makesan exception or an exception is noted, onlypriests of the religion where the spell is listedare allowed to cast these spells. Priests (cler-ics, specialty priests, druids, mystics, crusaders,or shamans) of a particular religion can alwayscast these religion-specific spells, even if thespells do not fall within their normally allowedspheres of access. Note that when used as a ma-terial component, holy symbols are neverconsumed in the casting of a spell.

G r o u pPriestRogueWarriorWizard

GroupPriestRogue 5

Warrior - 1 0

Wizard

Extended Calculated THAC0sLevel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2020 20 20 18 18 18 16 16 16 14 14 14 12 12 12 10 10 10 8 820 20 19 19 18 18 17 17 16 16 15 15 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 1120 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 120 20 20 19 19 19 18 18 18 17 17 17 16 16 16 15 15 15 14 14

21 22 23 2 4 25 2 6 27 2 8 2 9 3 0 31 32 33 3 4 35 3 6 37 3 8 3 9 4 08 6 6 6 4 4 4 2 2 2 0 0 0 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 6

10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 10 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0

14 13 13 13 12 12 12 11 11 11 10 10 10 9 9 9 8 8 8 7

Extended Priest Spell Progression Extended Wizard Spell Progression

Spell Levels

Expanded Bard Spell Progression

Level12 - - -

3 - - - - - - - -

4 - - - - - - - -5 - - -

6 - - -

7 - - - - - -

8 - - - - - -

9 - - -

10 - - -

11 - - - - - -

12 - - - - - -

131415161718192021222324 52526272829303132 5 5 23334353637383940

1 212

--

2 13 23 33 33 33 34 44 45 46 56 66 66 67 77 78 89 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 9

10 1010 1010 1011 1111 1111 1112 1212 1212 1213 13

Spell Levels3 4 5 6* 7**- - - - -

- - - - -

- - - - -- - - - -l - - - -2 - - - -

2 l - - -3 I - - -

3 2 l - -3 3 2 - -4 3 2 l -5 3 2 2 -6 4 2 2 -6 5 3 2 16 6 4 2 17 6 4 3 17 7 5 3 28 8 6 4 28 8 6 4 29 8 7 5 29 9 8 6 29 9 9 6 39 9 9 7 39 9 9 8 39 9 9 8 49 9 9 9 49 9 9 9 59 9 9 9 69 9 9 9 79 9 9 9 89 9 9 9 8

10 9 9 9 810 10 9 9 910 10 9 9 910 10 10 10 911 11 10 10 1011 11 10 10 1011 11 11 11 1012 12 11 11 1113 12 12 11 11

* Usable only by priests with 17 or greater Wisdom.** Usable only by priests with 18 or greater Wisdom.

Leve l 1 2 3 4 5 61 1 - - - - - -

2 2 - - - - -

3 2 1 - - - -

4 3 2 - - - -

5 4 2 l - - -6 4 2 2 - - -7 4 3 2 l - -8 4 3 3 2 - -9 4 3 3 2 l -

10 4 4 3 2 2 -11 4 4 4 3 3 -12 4 4 4 4 4 113 5 5 5 4 4 214 5 5 5 4 4 215 5 5 5 5 5 216 5 5 5 5 5 317 5 5 5 5 5 318 5 5 5 5 5 319 5 5 5 5 5 320 5 5 5 5 5 421 5 5 5 5 5 422 5 5 5 5 5 523 5 5 5 5 5 524 5 5 5 5 5 525 5 5 5 5 5 526 6 6 6 6 6 527 6 6 6 6 6 628 6 6 6 6 6 629 7 7 7 7 7 630 7 7 7 7 7 731 7 7 7 7 7 732 7 7 7 7 7 733 7 7 7 7 7 734 8 8 8 8 8 735 8 8 8 8 8 836 8 8 8 8 8 837 8 8 8 8 8 838 8 8 8 8 8 839 9 9 9 9 9 840 9 9 9 9 9 9

7 8 9- - -- - -

- - -- - -

- - -- - -

- - -

l - -l - -2 l -3 2 -3 2 13 3 13 3 24 4 24 4 35 5 35 5 45 5 45 5 56 5 56 6 66 6 67 6 67 7 77 7 77 7 77 7 78 7 78 8 88 8 88 8 88 8 89 8 8

Level123456789

10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940

1 2- -

l -2 -2 13 13 23 23 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 34 34 44 44 44 45 45 55 55 55 55 55 56 56 66 66 66 66 66 66 67 67 77 77 77 7

Spell Level3 4- -

5 6 7- - -

- -

- -- -

l -l -2 -2 13 13 23 23 33 33 33 34 34 44 44 44 45 4

55 55 55 5- 55 56 56 56 66 66 66 66 66 66 67 67 7

1 - -1 - -2 - -2 1 -3 l -3 2 -3 2 -4 3 -4 3 -4 3 -4 4 -4 4 -4 4 15 4 15 5 15 5 15 5 15 5 15 5 2

6 5 26 6 26 6 26 6 26 6 26 6 36 6 36 6 3

Talways expanding (along with the raw number of deities in the pantheon increasing), often at the ex-pense of the other pantheons of the Realms.

he Faerûnian pantheon is an amalgamation of native deities that date to the pre-history ofthe Realms, representatives of various pantheons brought into the Realms by waves ofimmigrants from other worlds over the millennia, and numerous new powers who havearisen from the ranks of mortals in Faerûn. Although primarily focused on humankind inonly Faerûn, the geographic and racial spheres of influence of the Faerûnian pantheon are

Unlike the Chultan, Kara-Turan, Maztican, Mulhorandi, Untheric, and demihuman pantheons, noprimary power rules the Faerûnian pantheon. Rather, the Faerûnian pantheon is a fractious assembly ofsometimes cooperative but more often antagonistic powers who perceive each other and the Realmssolely through the lens of their own portfolios. Sages speculate that the Faerûnian pantheon’s predilec-tion for infighting and disunity allows it to evolve and respond to change far quicker than more rigidlystructured pantheons, accounting for the relative “success” of the Faerûnian pantheon in dominating alarge portion of Abeir-Toril.

The Faerûnian pantheon is loosely governed by an oligarchy known as the Circle of Greater Powerswho meet in the Pavilion of Cynosure, which is located on a special demiplane in the Ethereal Plane,and who are responsible for maintaining the Balance (as defined by the guidelines left to the powers byAo) and policing transgressions by members of their pantheon. This divine assembly meets only rarelyand acts only with great deliberation. Its slow reaction time to on-going events is more a function of thedifficulty of reaching compromise between diametrically opposed greater powers than an indicator of theassemblage’s level of divine wisdom.

The Faerûnian pantheon, and every other pantheon in the Realms, is overseen by Lord Ao, theOver-power of Realmspace. Lord Ao holds himself aloof, an eternal observer who only rarely interferes,if at all, and then only to maintain the Balance, ratify or deny the ascension of beings to godhood, andensure that the gods remain responsive to their worshipers.

The Faerûnian pantheon was recently hurled from the heavens to the Realms by Ao after two greaterpowers, Myrkul and Bane, stole the Tablets of Fate that delineated each power’s responsibilities. It wasnot the theft of the tablets but the abdication of responsibility by the members of the pantheon thatcaused Ao to induce the Fall of the Gods. The period of strife that followed, known alternatively as theTime of Troubles, the Avatar Crisis, or the Godswar, was marked by the powers being forced to assumeweakened avatar forms scarcely more powerful than the most powerful mortals walking the Realms,being forced to walk the surface of Abeir-Toril among mortals, being banned (and forcibly blockaded)from returning to their outer planar realms, and leaving havoc in the wake of their travels on Toril.Magic went wild and mortals throughout Faerûn suffered at the cruel hands of deities out of touch withtheir flocks. The Time of Troubles concluded when a handful of brave mortals returned the tablets toAo. Ao then reinstated the powers to the Outer Planes and replaced those who had perished, but hebound their strength tightly to the number and faith of their worshipers.

The Time of Troubles was hardly the first time numerous avatars have stalked the Realms, leaving de-struction and magical chaos in their wake, and is probably not the last. The Dawn Cataclysm, known tohave occurred after the fall of Netheril, is believed to have heralded the fall of Myth Drannor. ThisGodswar is believed to have been sparked by a naive attempt by the then-youthful deity Lathander to re-make the Realms from scratch with all that was evil or old eliminated from mortal affairs and a pantheonof new deities under his benevolent patriarchal guidance running the Realms’s divine affairs.

Today the members of the Faerûnian pantheon are more intimately attuned to their worshipers andmore attentive to their responsibilities and portfolios. The powers continue to bicker and scheme, how-ever, while their ranks and geographic sphere of influence continue to grow.

Akadi(Queen of Air, the Lady of Air, Lady of the Winds,Queen of Air Elementals

Greater Power of the Elemental Plane of Air, NPORTFOLIO: Elemental air, air elementalists, movement, speed, flying creaturesALIASES: Teylas (Hordelands)DOMAIN NAME: Elemental Plane of Air/The Great FunnelSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Aerdrie Faenya, Quorlin, Remnis, Shaundakul, Stillsong, Stronmaus, SyranitaFOES: GrumbarSYMBOL: A white cloud, often upon a blue backgroundWOR. ALIGN: A n y

Akadi (Ah-KAH-dee) is the whispering wind andthe blinding gale storm, her form changing from sea-son to season. Her kiss might be moist and sweet orbitter and cold. Uncaring, she carries sounds andscents along on her journey, but she never pauses toimpress upon a traveler the importance of her trav-els. In religious art she is often portrayed as a huge,

translucent blue woman with gigantic feathery wings that trail away intoclouds. Her wings are said to toss the winds about the surface of Faerûn.

Like all the elemental lords, Akadi is relatively uncaring of her follow-ers on Abeir-Toril. Her reactions are difficult to gauge, and she seems al-most an alien being in her responses to most mortals not native to the El-emental Plane of Air. The relative inaction of Akadi and the other ele-mental lords has led to their being viewed as only lesser powers in theRealms and their followers being classed as cultists. Akadi is known asTeylas in the Hordelands, a god of the Elemental Plane of Air. The dis-tinction between a female and male form of the Lady of the Winds makesno difference to the faith.

Akadi does seem to have some small affection for her followers, but mostoften display\ that affection when they make large offerings to her by burn-ing precious incenses that waft to her on the winds—so it could be arguedthat she only cares when she is bribed to do so. While appeals to Akadi tochange or still the winds, provide good flying currents, or bring gentle rainsmeet with her approval, she grants no prayers to raise or quell harsh storms,as storms lie within the purview of Talos and Umberlee (though she occa-sionally manages a whirlwind of brief duration but stunning force). Duringthe Time of Troubles, she was not spotted in the Realms.

Akadi�s Avatar (30-HD Air Elemental, Cleric 30, Mage 30)Akadi has only been seen twice in written record in avatar form on Abeir-Toril. The Queen of Air normally appears as a huge column of swirlingwinds resembling an immense tornado that towers from the earth into theclouds above (although it only does tornadolike damage when she forms awhirlwind—see below). Her voice can range from the whisper of the slight-est breeze through the trees to an insistent roar that can be heard for miles inevery direction She casts spells from the elemental air, healing, and weatherspheres and the elemental air school.

AC -4, MV Fl 64; HP 296; THAC0 -9; #AT 2Dmg 6d10MR 50%; SZ G (160 feet)Str 21, Dex 24, Con 22, Int 19, Wis 19, Cha 15Spells P: 12/11/11/10/9/9/8, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Akadi normally attacks with focused blasts of air andcasts spells. So long as there is air for her to move through, Akadi is consid-ered a native of the Prime Material Plane in any crystal sphere she appearsin. This makes her immune to the adverse effects of such spells as anti-magicshell, protection from evil/good, and holy word on creatures from other planes.Akadi’s avatar may form a whirlwind for three rounds once per turn. As awhirlwind she is up to 160 feet tall, with a 10-foot bottom diameter and a90-foot top diameter (if she reaches her full height). The height Akadi canreach has no effect on the damage she does in whirlwind form; however, ifshe can reach only half her maximum height, her top diameter is only 45feet, and if she can reach only one-quarter of her maximum height, her topdiameter is 25 feet. The incredible winds of Akadi’s whirlwind instantly slaycreatures of fewer than 6 Hit Dice within 360 feet of her. Creatures from be-tween 7 and 9 Hit Dice are struck unconscious for 1d4 turns, and creatureswith 10 or more Hit Dice are stunned for 1d4 rounds. Those who survivethis attack suffer 4d8 points of damage.

Flying creatures are instantly grounded by the appearance of Akadi’savatar form unless the Queen of Air Elementals makes her winds subside toallow them to fly. She often does this, as being struck on the ground is aninsult to all flying creatures (including herself). Creatures struck down inmid-flight suffer normal falling damage unless Akadi cushions their fall.

Akadi may leave a field of battle or the Prime Material Plane at any timeby spending two rounds merging with the air, whereupon she dissipates intomisty clouds.

Other ManifestationsAkadi has sent manifestations to the Realms more frequently than she hassent an avatar, but even these appearances are extremely rare compared to thefrequency with which other powers manifest. The Lady of Air has appeared inthe form of almost any normal flying creature, and her voice has been heard as

a gentle whisper upon the breeze. She frequently sends an aerial servant to de-liver private messages (oring breeze or a change in

demands) to thoseshe deems worthy or useful.the wind is usuallyseen as a sign of her favor.

A ris-

The ChurchCLERGY: Specialty priests, crusaders, mystics, shamansCLERGY’S ALIGN.: NG, CG, N, CN, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mys: No, Sha: Yes, if goodCMND. UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mys: No, Sha: Yes, if neutral or evilAll specialty priests, crusaders, mystics, and shamans of Akadi receive reli-gion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Akadian priests arestrongly encouraged to learn weather sense and to acquire skill in playing amusical instrument that involves blowing air through it to produce sound(such as woodwind instruments, brass instruments, organs, and bagpipes) inaddition to their required proficiencies. All shamans of Akadi receive ele-mental air as one of their major spheres in addition to their normal spheresof magic.

Before the Time of Troubles, all of the elemental cults had clerics in theirranks. Now, only specialty priests remain. Why Akadi decided to graduallyconvert herclerics to specialty priests is unknown. Since the Godswar, theAkadian church has added a small order of mystics and an order of crusadersto the church to round out the capabilities of the priesthood. In primitive ornomadic societies (such as those of the Tuigan), Akadi is served by shamans.

Few priests of Akadi ever settle down in one place, so few communitiesfeel threatened or benefited by the appearance of an Akadian priest. Aka-dian priests blow into a town or village upon the morning breeze and aretypically gone by thetime the sun sets. A philosophy of incessant movementand wanderlust has ingrained i tselfinto the church of Akadi, and fewtemples exist to the Lady of the Winds. Those that do are most often open-air circles of wooden poles adorned with feathers and streamers that flutterin the slightest breeze. Priests of the faith travel across Faerûn, spreading theword of Akadi at each opportunity. They often lecture on the joys that thefreedom of Akadi brings, but seldom stop to argue semantics or principleswith those who would them, choosing instead to sew the seeds of the Queenof Air and then continue along to “wherever the winds take them.” Thistendency to spout high-sounding verbiage has led to more than one Aka-dian priest being called a “windbag” in several senses of the word.

The priests of Akadi are divided up between the Whisper and the Roar.These are not rankings within the church or even a division between thoseclergy members with parish territories and those of an adventuring bent.Rather, these are distinctions in philosophy of action. Those who follow theWhisper typically work behind the scenes, seldom showing themselves to bea member of the church of Akadi. Members of the Roar are much more di-rect about their involvement in the affairs of Faerûn. The disparate and un-focused nature of the activities of the church of Akadi as a whole has left fewin Faerûn viewing it as any sort of threat, although personally ambitiousmembers of the church can sometimes wreak havoc in a particular region.

Akadi’s priests are organized mostly into “churches” formed of smallcliques who follow a particularly charismatic Akadian. These cliques shiftand flow over tune as the group politics lead to some members rising in sta-tus, others falling, and others leaving in disgust or empowered by the inspir-ing message of their leader to begin a new church in a far-off land. This sortof organization is very fluid and often very confusing to those outside thefaith, as such folk are never sure who will be in charge in a tenday and there-

fore who to hold responsible for living up to agreements and contracts. MostAkadians have a reputation for being untrustworthy because of this veryproblem in their faith’s organization. When tune comes due for an Akadianto live up to a promise, frequently the answer received is: “I’m so sorry, that’snot my job anymore”—if one can find the Akadian the deal was struck within the first place!

Novice Akadians are referred to as Fledglings. Upon undergoing a person-ally designed rite of empowerment supervised by at least two senior clergy(and usually involving flying), they become full priests. In ascending order ofrank, the titles in general use by the priesthood are: Winged One (full priest),Air of the Goddess, Breeze of Light, Zephyr (senior priest), Mistral, Sirocco(leader of a large “church”), and Whirlwind (leader of a very large church orpriest of great experience). A priest who has slain or soundly defeated anenemy of the church (usually a high-ranking priest of Grumbar or an earth-based creature of power) may add the honorific “High” to the beginning ofhis or her title. Specialty priests of Akadi are known as airwalkers.

Dogma: The teachings of the Akadian church amount to a doctrine offinding one’s own enlightenment. The church feels that one can only findtruth in what one is interested in and as soon as interest fails, all chance offinding further spiritual growth has left an activity or place. Therefore, the

faithful must move from activity to activity, from place to place, pursuing apersonal dream or series of interests and growing through the changing ex-periences each new day brings. The church pays little attention to resis-tance to its doctrine; such obstacles will be worn down over time. Few mat-ters are ever deemed so important that the church feels the need to commititself to a particular cause. The only stance that the Akadian faith takesadamantly is that its members and its priests should not be fettered or im-prisoned; such a condition rapidly leads to the onset of depression amongthe faithful and a languishing death.

Novices in the Akadian faith are charged as follows: “The eternal Akadi ischange personified. Each new day reveals to us a new side of her. Strive to beas flexible as she is. Pursue everything that interests you in turn. Look at prob-lems from as many viewpoints as possible to achieve the most creative answer.View life as an art form to create anew around you each day to your benefitand that of Akadi. The freedom to move about and to soar on the breeze of lifeis one of the inherent rights of every living thing. Fly forth and spread theword of Akadi and show through your works the fresh new life she brings.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Listening to the wind, traveling beneath thestars of Faerûn, pursuing personal interests of the moment, and speaking toothers of the glories of Akadi dominate most priests’ lives. Spelljamming islooked upon favorably by the faith, since it spreads the word of Akadi to dis-tant places. Some priests become almost obsessively involved in “life exper-iments” of a practical or esoteric nature. For instance, some may becomedeeply involved in breeding faster and sleeker hawks or running hounds,others may decide to see how orcs adapt to fierce and freakish windstorms,and yet others may spend endless hours trying to develop artificial wings forcats. Yet, once any project is no longer fun or interesting, Akadian priestsdrop it like a lead weight and move on to something new no matter howmuch time they have already invested in the activity.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Each day is an important event inthe eyes of an Akadian. The faithful typically rise before the sun emerges towhisper their prayers on the morning breeze and stay up to watch the moonrise over Faerûn or glide the dying thermals of the waning day and joyfullyspeak their evening prayers.

The Fellowship of Flight is the ceremony that Akadian specialty priestsundergo that celebrates their ability, upon reaching a certain level of skill, tosummon an air elemental from the Elemental Plane of Air. The ceremony ispreceded by an hour of solemn prayer, after which the elemental is sum-moned. When it answers, it is wafted with sweet-smelling incense, sungsongs, sprinkled with flower petals, and given poems praising Akadi to carryback to her realm.

On Midsummer, the church holds its only calendar festival. To attendthis festival, all of the faithful who are able to travel do so for tendays beforeMidsummer. They gather in the Shaar at the rums of Blaskaltar, which con-tain the site of the first known shrine to Akadi in Faerûn, now obliterated bythe hand of time and seasons of wind and rain. Here the chant of the heroesof the faith is recited by all present and new names are added to the rollcommemorating those who have passed on during the past year.

Major Centers of Worship: Few permanent temples to Akadi havebeen erected. Many of her shrines are tended by a rotating cycle of priests asthey travel the countryside, leaving the shrine when their replacement ar-rives. The holiest site of the Akadian faith is the mound of the First Shrineof the Queen of Air in the ruins of Blaskaltar in the Shaar. The structure islong gone through ages of neglect; however, the faithful gather here yearlyto remember the history of their church and its great members so that theydo not lose their past and thus become doomed to repeat it.

Affiliated Orders: The order of Akadian crusaders is known as theKnights of the Wind’s Four Quarters. Its members tend to pursue personalquests and errands for church elders or carry out the ongoing vendettaagainst the church of Grumbar. Mystics of the faith belong to the Compan-ions of the Summer Wind, who tend to be good-aligned, the Disciples ofSpring’s Breeze, who are mainly neutral, or the Alliance of Midwinter’sTeeth, who are evil.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Akadi dress for rituals in robes of white,light gray, and light blue, representing the many faces of their goddess. Silkis a preferred material in vestments, as its flowing nature pleases the goddess,and rare silks dyed in flowing or rippling patterns of blue or white are highlyprized. Many priests wear jewelry of milky opal, crystal quartz, augelite,turquoise, beryllonite, blue spinel, or sapphire, and these are the stones fromwhich Akadian holy symbols are constructed. Air elementals blow fine gritover one of these gemstones, thereby inscribing Akadi’s symbol; the stone isset into a piece of jewelry, forming a holy symbol.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring priests and Akadian clergy memberson the road dress practically, though they favor clothes or accessories of

white, light gray, and light blue. They recognize that traveling through thecountryside on the enemy element of earth requires heavier clothing toshield oneself from that harsh element. They typically confine their use ofsilk to a scarf or decorative vest and pack their ceremonial vestments care-fully to protect them.

Specialty Priests (Airwalkers)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:

ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERES:

MINOR SPHERES:

MAGICAL ITEMS:

REQ. PROFS.BONUS PROFS.

Constitution 12, Wisdom 12Constitution, WisdomCG, N, CN, CEAny one melee weapon; all other weapons must be mis-s i le o r th rown weapons (no a rquebuses o r o therfirearms). A nonweapon proficiency penalty is enforcedagainst the use of a thrown weapon in melee unless it isthe sole chosen melee weapon.All armor types up to and including chain mail andshieldAll, Astral, elemental air, healing, protection, travelers,weatherCombat, divination, elemental fire, elemental water,necromanticSame as clerics, except forbidden from using magicalitems with earth-based effects (ring of spell storing withthe stoneskin spell in it, ring of elemental earth command,etc.)Riding, airborne (pick one mount)Tightrope walking, direction sense

• Karsus and aaracokra may be airwalkers.• Airwalkers may cast wizard spells from the elemental air school in addi-

tion to priest spells. These spells are cast as if the airwalker were a mageof the same level. For example, a 3rd-level airwalker casts wizard spellsas a 3rd-level mage. Airwalkers pray for their wizard spells instead ofstudying to memorize them, and chosen wizard spells replace priestspells potentially available for use that day. (In other words, the wizardspell occupies a priest spell slot.) Airwalkers gain access to 8th-levelwizard spells at 16th level and 9th-level wizard spells at 18th level. Anairwalker must have a Wisdom of 18 or higher and an Intelligence of 16to gain access to the 8th level spells, and a Wisdom of 18 or higher andan Intelligence of 18 to gain access to the 9th-level spells. If an air-walker is able to gain high-level wizard spells, every 8th-level spellprayed for occupies a 6th-level priest spell slot and every 9th-level spellprayed for occupies a 7th-level priest spell slot. Airwalkers are alwaysable to read elemental air spells on scrolls or in wizard spellbooks as ifthey knew read magic (but studying spells from a spellbook is useless tothem). No more than three-quarters of an airwalker’s total number ofspells available (round down) can be taken as wizard spells.

• All airwalkers gain a +2 bonus to saving throws vs. the harmful effectsof air- or wind-related spells or cloudlike or gaseous breath weapons.

• Airwalkers are never injured from a fall so long as the distance of the falldoes not exceed 10 feet per level of the airwalker. In game terms, thistranslates an ability to feather fall at will (and even when unconscious)for up to this distance limit.

• At 5th level, airwalkers gain the ability assume a wraithform (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) once per day.

• At 5th level, an-walkers can summon one 8-HD air elemental once aday. This elemental remains under the control of the airwalker for onehour and cannot be taken control of by another creature. If the sum-moner is killed or struck unconscious, the summoned elemental goes ona rampage, attacking everyone in sight except its summoner until itsone-hour time limit upon the Prime Material has elapsed. It is impor-tant to note that the elemental summoned is not a servant of the air-walker, but rather is looked upon as an agent of Akadi that is to be re-spected. The ability to summon an elemental is granted once each daywhen airwalkers receive their normal complement of spells.

• At 7th level, airwalkers gain the ability to fly (as the 3rd-level wizardspell) once per day.

• At 9th level, airwalkers gain the ability to cast cloudkill (as the 5th-levelwizard spell) once per day.

• At 9th level, airwalkers can summon one 12-HD air elemental once atenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD air el-emental.

• At 13th level, airwalkers can summon one 16-HD air elemental once atenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD air el-emental.

l At 15th level, airwalkers can move through the Elemental Plane of Airwithout need for food or water.

l Airwalkers who work together can summon an elemental of greater HitDice than they would otherwise be able to alone. For example, a 5th- and9th-level priest could summon a 16-HD elemental. As long as both sum-moners remain alive, the elemental remains under their control for onefull hour. If one of the summoners is killed or struck unconscious, the sum-moned elemental goes on a rampage, attacking everyone in sight until itsone-hour time limit upon the Prime Material has elapsed. It then returnsto the Elemental Plane of Air. The participants in such a combined sum-moning attempt must abide by time restrictions for further elemental sum-moning apportioned by their levels. In the above case, the 5th-level priestwould have summoned his 8-HD elemental for the day and the 9th-levelpriest would have summoned her 12-HD elemental for the tenday.

Akadian Spells3rd LevelWindbearer (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental AirRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, MDuration: 1 turn + 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a pillar of air 5 feet in diameter and up to 5 feet tall perlevel of the caster. The vertical dimension is decided at the time of casting.The pillar of air exerts an upward force of 40 pounds per level of the caster.If this is sufficient to counter the weight of an object or creature entering thearea, such an object or creature rises vertically to the top of the column in asingle round. Unwilling creatures are allowed a saving throw vs. spell toavoid the effect. The caster can vary the height of the pillar from the pos-sible maximum to a minimum of 5 feet by concentrating for one round.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

4th LevelCalm Winds (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental AirRange: 0Components: V, MDuration: 1 turn + 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 20-foot-radius globeSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates an area in which the air remains perfectly calm. Calmwinds negates the effects of whirlwinds and spells such as dust devil and gust ofwind within the protected area, although such spells are not ended. Crea-tures from the Elemental Plane of Air and wind-based creatures such as vor-tices and windwalkers shun and seek to leave the area at the earliest oppor-tunity. This calmed area is mobile with the caster and lasts as long as thecaster concentrates undisturbed or until the spell duration expires. Thecaster can move at up to half his or her movement rate and maintain con-centration, but no other strenuous actions are allowed.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

Clear Air (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental AirRange: TouchComponents: V, MDuration: 1 turn + 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 20-foot-radius globeSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates an area in which the air remains perfectly clear. Clear airbanishes smoke, gas, fog, and instantly settles particles such as blowing sand,soot, or grit. Creatures in gaseous form are immediately expelled from itsconfines, and they cannot enter the area while the spell is in effect. Thespell affects the area surrounding the creature touched, and it is mobile withthat creature.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

Winds of Akadi (Alteration, Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental AirRange: 100 yards

Components: V, SDuration: 1 turnCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: SpecialSav ing Throw: ½When this spell is cast, a 30-foot-diameter sphere of whirling air comes intoexistence at a point indicated by the caster. Creatures in the area of effectwhen the spell is cast (or those entering the area of effect while the spell isin effect) must make a saving throw vs. spell or suffer 1d4 points of damage.

On the second round of the spell, the priest can cause a lightning bolt toissue forth from the storm at any target within range, inflicting 1d6 points ofdamage per level of the caster to a maximum of 10d6 points. Bolts fired fromthe cloud behave in the same way as those created by the lightning bolt 3rd-level wizard spell, and all affected creatures are entitled to a saving throw vs.spell for half damage. Creatures within the cloud in a round when a lightningbolt is projected make their saving throws with a -4 penalty.

Every other round, the cloud releases one lightning bolt in a manner and attargets selected by the caster. The cloud produces a total of five lightning boltsbefore the spellexpires. In the intermediary rounds between lightning bolts,the casting priest is free to perform other actions, including melee attacksand spellcasting. At the start of each even-numbered round, however, thepriest directs the lightning bolt to its target and thus loses his or her normalaction for that round.

7th LevelAkadi�s Vortex (Alteration, Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental AirRange: 100 yardsComponents: V, SDuration: 1 turnCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: ½This spell is exactly like the winds of Akadi spell in effect except that thelightning that issues forth from the cloud behaves like that produced by the6th-level wizard spell chain lightning. A chain lightning stroke inflicts 1d6points of damage per level of the caster to a maximum of 12d6 points andloses one die of damage each time it arcs to a new target. The cloud issuesforth chain lightning on the third round after it is created, the sixth round,and the ninth round. On the tenth round, the spell expires abruptly in anormal lightning bolt (1d6 points of damage per level of the caster to a maxi-mum of 10d6 points).

Conjure Air Elemental (Conjuration/Summoning) ReversibleSphere: Elemental Air, SummoningRange: 40 yardsComponents: V, SDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Time: 1 turnArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneA caster who performs this spell summons an air elemental to do his or herbidding. The elemental is 60% likely to have 12 Hit Dice, 35% likely tohave 16 Hit Dice, and 5% likely to have 21 to 24 Hit Dice (20+1d4). Fur-thermore, the caster needs but to command it, and it does as she or he de-sires, for the elemental regards the caster as a friend to be obeyed. The ele-mental remains until destroyed, dispelled, sent away by a dismissal or holyword spell (see the 6th-level priest spell conjure fire elemental). or the spellduration expires.

Whirlwind (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental AirRange: 120 yardsComponents: V, MDuration: 3+1d4 roundsCasting Time: 1 turnArea of Effect: A 270-foot-high cone with an apex 30 feet in diameter

and a 10-foot-diameter baseSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates damaging, gale-force winds capable of destroying struc-tures of less than the sturdiest stone construction. On land, the whirlwind ap-pears as a tornado; at sea, it appears as a hurricane. The whirlwind can be cre-ated only where there is room for it to fully form, and its formation require afull turn. It automatically scatters unprotected creatures with up to 3 Hit

Dice, who must make a successful saving throw vs. death magic or be killed.It grounds all flying creatures, who must make a successful saving throw vs.death magic or crash, taking falling damage. Unprotected creatures with 4 ormore Hit Dice take 3d6 points of damage per round of exposure from buffet-ing, flying debris, etc. and cannot move into the wind (in other words,toward the caster). The whirlwind has the same effect as an earthquake (seethe 7th-level priest spell of that name) on all structures except those madeof solidly constructed stone.

The whirlwind moves at a rate of 30 to 60 yards per round according tothe desire of the caster, and the caster can vary its direction by up to 60 de-grees per round. The caster must concentrate on the whirlwind for a fullround to change its speed or direction.

The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and apiece of straw.

Amaunator (Dead)(The Yellow God, the Keeper of the Eternal Sun)Greater Power (later Lesser Power) of Mechanus, LNPORTFOLIO: Bureaucracy, contracts, law, order, the sun, rulershipALIASES: At’ar the Merciless (Anauroch, among the Bedine)DOMAIN NAME: Mechanus/Keep of the Eternal SunSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: KossuthFOES: SharSYMBOL: Sun with a face on the solar diskWOR. ALIGN.: LG, NG, LN, N, LE, NE

His corpse now drifts with the endless astral tides, awaiting a day when someambitious spirit may help him regain his once-proud heritage.

Amaunator�s Avatar (Cleric 38, Mage 35)Amaunator appeared as a lanky man with silver-white hair, a short, tendaygrowth of white beard, and skin that glowed constantly with a quiet goldenradiance. He carried a scepter in one hand and a large legal tome in theother, and wore the dress of a magistrate: a long, flowing, black or purplegown trimmed in silver or gold. To be in his presence was to feel the awe-some power of true law. He could use spells from any sphere or school, but fa-vored using spells from the spheres of sun or law.

AC -5; MV 15; HP 202; THAC0 -4; #AT 1Dmg: 2d6+3 (scepter of the eternal sun, +1 Str)MR 80%; SZ L (10 feet)Str 17, Dex 16, Con 24, Int 25, Wis 22, Cha 20Spells P: 15/15/14/14/13/11/10, W: 8/8/8/8/8/8/8/7/7Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Amaunator recognized thieves and lawbreakers forwhat they are on sight. He could also see invisible objects or people, knowalignment, memory read, and enforce legal thoughts at will. When he attackedphysically, which he only did with great provocation, he used the scepter ofthe eternal sun, which inflicted 2d6+2 points of damage on a successful at-tack and worked as a +5 weapon for purpose of damaging creatures struckonly by magical weapons. The scepter of the eternal sun did double damage tochaotic-aligned creatures and quadruple damage to chaotic-aligned cxtra-planar creatures, along with automatically sending such creatures back totheir plane of origin on a successful attack. It could function as a double-strength rod of rulership whenever Amaunator wished it to, and it destroyedgolems it struck on a natural roll of 18, 19, or 20.

husband Kozah every day to sleep with N’asr, god of night and the dead. Thecautious regard the Bedine have for At’ar has never brought them any an-swer to their prayers, however, because At’ar does not exist. She is but atwisted memory of Amaunator, the ancient Netherese god of law and thesun, derived from tales that the migrant ancestors of the nomadic Bedinewere told by the survivors of the fall of Netheril.

Most of Faerûn venerates the moon goddess, Selûne,but not a sun-based deity. The Bedine tribesmen ofAnauroch, though they have no priests, are an ex-ception. They respect and fear At’ar the Merciless,the Yellow Goddess. Symbolizing the heat of thedesert sun, At’ar is seen as a spiteful and faithlesswoman whose fury in the full day strikes fear into thebravest hearts. She is a harlot who betrays her lawful

Amaunator’s touch automatically destroyed all undead creatures affectedby sunlight. Whenever he wished, Amaunator could create light equal tosunlight over an area 10 miles in diameter for up to an hour, a feat he couldnot repeat until two hours had passed. Every other round, in addition to hisnormal attacks and spells, he could emit either a sunray or a flame strike fromhis eyes.

Amaunator automatically dispelled all magical darkness that he touchesin any way. He could also dispel all magical darkness within 120 yards with athought. Because of his dominion over the sun, light- heat-, and fire-basedattacks could not harm him. He was also immune to all illusion/phantasmspells and magical effects, any sort of fear or emotion-control magic andcold-, darkness-, or shadow-based spells, spell-like abilities, magical items, orbreath weapons.

Other ManifestationsAmaunator often appeared as a glowing woman dressed in a flowing opales-cent dress bearing a balance of the purest gold—an almost translucent gold.It was said that if the scales tipped toward the right, the one seeing the ap-parition had met with disfavor. She or he could expect to lose of all profitsand to bear the weight of seven years of poverty, debt, and servitude. If thebalance tipped to the left, the viewer had met with favor. She or he couldexpect rewards and contractual pledges to fill his or her pockets with theprofits of the world. Those who saw an apparition with perfectly balancedscales were said to be met with the greatest of favor: to be invited to joinAmaunator’s priesthood. The clergy were probably notified by Amaunatorhimself of such favored folk since they always approached such peoplewithin a tenday to take them to Amaunator’s temple in Unity (now longdust) for rigorous study and instruction.

Amaunator (Ah-MAWN-ah-tor) was revered as the patron of law andthe keeper of tune. His justice was fair but harsh. He was revered by manyrulers, soldiers, and powerful mages. A very careful god, Amaunator madecertain that everything was written down, contracted, signed, sealed, andnotarized—much like the Celestial Bureaucracy of Kara-Tur in the modernRealms. An extremely lawful god, he followed the letter of law, not neces-sarily the spirit of it—unless the spirit was a great deal more to his liking. Heexpected the same from his servitors. He was also occasionally revered as thekeeper of time along with the other aspects of his portfolio. This artificial“addition” to his portfolio was due to a mispunctuation in a contract be-tween himself and another deity which stating: “. . . Amaunator shall be re-sponsible for all time, any misrepresentation of his or his followers, If sodeemed the fault of Amaunator . . . .” This unnoticed punctuational snarl ofcommas and periods led to Amaunator considering himself to be in chargeof “all time.” Fortunately, he never officially acted to take over took theportfolio, since he was not willing to step upon the toes of Mystryl, who wasthe unofficial keeper of the timestream.

Amaunator brought revenge to those who deserved it, righted wrongs,punished the wicked, and avenged those who could not avenge themselves.He did this by sending a group of 13 giant hyenas with maximum hit pointsand a Morale of 20 that appeared from thin air to rip and tear at the flesh ofthe condemned until his or her body was spread over an acre of land.

When Netheril fell, the people of the middle and lower classes who werenot killed by the fall of the enclaves (the only living worshipers of the god)turned their backs on Amaunator, believing he did nothing to stop the disastersaffecting their civilization. His followers were right, but contractually, his handswere tied. Magic in all forms was under exclusive control of Mystryl, andAmaunator had no lawful right to interfere in any way, even when a magicalcatastrophe, such as Netheril’s fall, was in the process of occurring.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, monksCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, LN, LETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, beginning at 2nd level, Mon: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mon: No

Over the centuries, many theories have been put forward by later scholarsas to what ultimate fate Amaunator met. Some believe he was either absorbedinto or became Lathander, others that he turned bitter and became At’ar, andyet others assert that he turned his back on Faerûn and entered the pantheonof the lands of Kara-Tur or simply moved on to other crystal spheres. The truthis that with the loss of nearly all his followers in Netheril after its fall, Amau-nator began the long, arduous, and painful process of dying of neglect. Afterabout a millennium, he did not have enough power left to maintain the Keepof the Eternal Sun on Mechanus and was ruthlessly exiled to the Astral Plane.

Finally, Amaunator sometimes acted or showed his favor or disfavorthrough emerald dragons, sapphire dragons, steel dragons, golems, takos,birds of prey (especially sunfalcons), sunflowers, yellow-eyed daisies, goldenlilies, topazes, fire-colored or red gemstones of all sorts, tan dogs, cream-col-ored cats, pure white wolves, and white stallions.

All clerics, specialty priests, and monks of Amaunator receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Priests of Amaunator were powerful political figures at the height of theNetherese empire. Many served as regional rulers and political advisors. De-spite the clergy members’ efforts to halt the creeping desert, Anauroch ap-proached relentlessly after the magical catastrophe brought on by Karse’spride. When the population rose up in revolt after seven years of bad har-vests, the priests of Amaunator responded without mercy to suppress the up-rising. This slide towards tyranny led to the overthrow of the political andreligious authority of Amaunator’s clergy.

Amaunator’s clergy were extremely hierarchical and rulebound. EachRighteous Potentate (high priest of a temple, called a “Court”) oversaw allaspects of church functions. No one could perform or be relieved of their du-ties without the consent of the Righteous Potentate or one of his sevenMonastic Abbots. Under each of the seven Monastic Abbots, there were anadditional seven High Jurists (priests) who served relentlessly, performingwhatever duties were assigned to them. Lower ranks of clergy membersserved beneath the High Jurists, but their titles are lost in the mists of time.Specialty priests of Amaunator were known as sunlords and sunladies.

The Righteous Potentate was in charge of teaching the masses of peoplewho flocked to the temple on a regular basis and overseeing the preparationof Court members (novices) to move into positions of power in the church.The seven Monastic Abbots each tended to a different supplemental duty,including the upkeep of the grounds and temple farms, upkeep of the churchinterior, upkeep of the church exterior, procurement of the necessities of thespirit, procurement of the necessities of the flesh (food, supplies, etc.), up-keep and expansion of the law library, and cultivation and supervision ofitinerant monk missionaries who walked the world, preaching the peacethat could be found in the understanding of law. These monks of Amauna-tor were the only clergy members not tied intimately to temple duties atleast part of the time, though they were required to report to the temple orshrine they were assigned to at least once a year.

Dogma: Amaunatori were taught that the law was the law. The law keptorder in society, and without it civilization would unravel and chaos wouldreign. Amaunator represented the sure function of the law, for just as cer-tainly as the sun would rise in the morning, the law could deal fairly withany dispute and any crime.

Novice Amaunatori were charged as follows: “Learn the law and live it;obey its every letter and clause, for in knowledge of the intricacies of law liesfreedom to act with righteous impunity. Keep track of the decisions of yoursuperiors so that the body of precedent continues to grow and the unity ofpurpose of the rulings of Amaunator is made manifest to all. Serve your su-periors faithfully, and they will reward you faithfully; shirk your duty andfind the harsh hand of reproof.”

Day-to-Day Activities: All clergy members had to learn, understand,and know how to reap the benefits from (exploit) the laws of the land, thecity, and the province they lived in. In order to completely understand thenuances of law and legislature, the clergy constantly drilled each other, prac-ticed law in court whenever possible, and rehearsed law in practice court-rooms. They could not resist investigating the scene of a crime or taking partin the construction of new laws in their locale, and did so with great inten-sity and fervor.

Amaunatori served often in court as judges, to present cases, and to hearlegal arguments and disputes. They were paid well to settle merchant dis-putes over contracts, agreements, and trade practices and made a comfort-able living for themselves and their church as arbitrators of all sorts of com-mercial and personal claims not worthy of the attention of figures of powerin ultimate authority.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The holiest of days in the churchof Amaunator was the celebration of the anniversary of the signing of thePantheon Contour, an agreement between the powers adjudicated byAmaunator. This was celebrated on the third full moon of the year. The fes-tivities were marked by Amaunator’s followers donning magisterial regaliaand parading the holy symbol of Amaunator before every court and throughthe streets.

The longest day of the year, the summer solstice, was another importantholiday. The followers of Amaunator spent the day relaxing, sunbathing,and praying to their god, thanking him for the gift of sunlight he shed on theworld. Amaunatori believed that if this day was not properly celebrated,Amaunator would withhold sunlight from the face of Toril for a year.

Every time a devout follower of Amaunator was able to take advantage ofsomeone in a contract, successfully debate his or her case in court, or effec-tively pass a new law, the priest of Amaunator gave thanks to the Keeper ofthe Sun by burning magically preserved oak leaves and incense in his honor.

Specialty Priests (Sunlords/Sunladies)REQUIREMENTS: Constitution 11, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 15, Charisma

12PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:M AJOR SPHERES:

MINOR SPHERES:

MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Major Centers of Worship: Unity, a sizable Netherese enclave, wasthe home of the largest temple to Amaunator, the Forested Enclave of theFace on the Sun. The steeple of this monstrous three-story pentagonal,hemispherically roofed building thrust 17 stories above the landscape, al-lowing the solar disk of Amaunator to be seen far above the surroundingtrees.

Throughout the temple’s history, the Righteous Potentates overseeingthe temple had an affinity for casting continual light on the cropped hair oftheir scalps. Like hair bleaching or coloring, though, this incantation hadto be reapplied monthly to affect new hair growth. As side effect to thispractice, gnolls from the enveloping Facile Forest made monthly pilgrim-ages to the temple of Amaunator to worship the “lightened one.” This en-couraged the gnolls to focus their raiding on other parts of the forest.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Amaunator had several affiliated or-ders with representatives that could be found in most Netherese communi-ties. The first was an association of bonded scribes called the Most Tran-scendent Affiliation of Paradisiacal Pens. These aloof and arrogant individ-uals traveled the world preaching the holiness of law and order. Their mis-sion in life was to build amphitheater-sized buildings dedicated to thepreservation of law. These huge, stone-walled monstrosities containedbooks and scrolls detailing the laws of every land and every city that the fol-lowers of Amaunator encountered.

The Syndicate of Celestial and Righteous Lawmakers was a group of 70warriors and paladins (mainly paladins) who worshiped Amaunator be-cause of his love of law. These women and men taught the lawful side ofAmaunator, interpreting his somewhat nongood tendencies as deific rec-ommendations that could be safely ignored or softened to a more humani-tarian tone. These warriors branded the business side of their shields withextremely potent variants of continual light spells to blind the lawlessnessthey encountered. This gave them a lasting light source in darkness and abonus in some strategic situations where they could nearly blind their foeswith the intensity of light coming from their shields.

The monks of Amaunator belonged to the Brotherhood of the Sun, anassociation of itinerant monks who served the faithful in the field, bringingthe comforting words of Amaunator to the peasants and common folk andpreserving order throughout the land. Their symbol was a sunburst.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Amaunator dressed in bright, long-sleeved, ornate robes of yellow, red, and orange that were covered withsewn-on arcane symbols for the sun or depicted the sun through embroi-dery, artful dying, or gold decorations and gemstone encrustations placed toform a sun face. Those priests with their own temples had their robesworked of cloth-of-gold. A sunburst headpiece completed the ceremonialgarb. Holy symbols of Amaunator were always made of gold, gold-platedmetal, or gold-painted wood.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring clerics usually wore utilitarian garb,but preferred reds and oranges for cloaks, tabards, and accessories that werenot part of their armor. When possible, they wore armor that had beenwashed or plated with gold.

Wisdom, CharismaLN, LEAll bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsA n yAll, charm, creation, elemental fire, elemental air, law,summoning, sun, tuneDivination, elemental earth, heal ing, necromantic,numbers, protection, thoughtSame as clericsReading/writingEtiquette, reading lips

• When used in an ARCANE AGES™ FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign settingsuch as that presented in the Netheril boxed set, sunlords and sunladiesshould be adapted to the rules presented in that boxed set.

• Sunlords and sunladies cast all sun, law, and elemental fire sphere spellsas if they had an additional three levels of experience.

• Sunlords and sunladies know the laws and legal codes of the land, the city,and the province they live in and the land, the city, and the province theywere raised in (which may be two different places). They automaticallyknow all commonly known and uncommonly known information withinthat body of law and its attendant procedures. If asked to call to mind anincredibly obscure point of the law of their homeland or native land, they

may make an ability check against their Wisdom or Intelligence,whichever 1s higher, to recall the point in question. They must make asimilar ability check to know the common laws of other lands; to recallthe uncommon legal practices or obscure legal points of order of foreignlands, this ability check 1s at a -3 penalty or a -6 penalty, respectively.

l Sunlords and sunladies are able to detect lie once per day. They are able todo so an additional time per day for every four levels of experience theygain beyond 1st level (twice at 5th level, three times at 9th level, etc.).

l At 2nd level, sunlords and sunladies gain the ability to turn undead crea-tures. They affect undead creatures as a cleric of half their actual level(round down) throughout the rest of their careers. In other words, at 3rdlevel they turn undead creatures as lst-level clerics. Lawful evil sunlordsand sunladies, as well as those of lawful neutral alignment, may nevercommand undead creatures because of a combination of the aversion tothe sunlight represented by their deity that most undead creatures haveand the fact that undead creatures violate the “laws of nature”— some-thing legal-minded Amaunator dislikes intensely.

l At 3rd level, sunlords and sunladies are able to impose rigid thinking (asthe 3rd-level priest spell) on another once a day.

l At 5th level, sunlords and sunladies are able to cast compulsive order (asthe 4th-level priest spell) once a day and impeding permission (as the 5th-level priest spell) once every three days.

l At 7th level, sunlords and sunladies are able to impose legal thoughts (asthe 6th-level priest spell) once a day.

l At 10th level, sunlords and sunladies are able to cast Sol’s searing orb (asthe 6th-level spell) once a day.

l At 13th-level, sunlords and sunladies instinctively can tell the ethicalcomponent (lawful, chaotic, or neutral) of the alignment of anyone theyview whenever they invoke this ability. (They cannot do so constantly,but this ability does not cost them an action in combat.)

l At 15th level, sunlords and sunladies are able to cast sunray (as the 7th-level priest spell) twice a day.

• Fireball: A piece of the sun’s energy can be converted into a fireball asthough cast by a mage of the casting priest’s level. This lowers the tem-perature within a 90-mile radius by 1 degree Fahrenheit for a tendayeach time it is cast. This aspect of the spell cannot be cast at night orduring cloudy days.

• Illumination: This version of advanced sunshine can be used to borrow sun-light from later in the day (or the next day if at night) to cast continuallight at double the range and effect for the caster’s level. This shortens theday’s sunshine by one hour.

5th LevelIllumination (Alteration, Divination)Sphere: Sun, ThoughtRange: 0Components: V, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time 8Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: NoneBy means of an illumination spell, the priest in effect alters the flow of timewith regard to himself or herself. While the spell is in effect, the caster isenveloped in a golden radiance and is immune to all attacks except thosecaused by cold-, darkness-, or shadow-based spells, spell-like abilities, mag-ical items, or breath weapons. While but one round of time passes for thosenot affected by the spell, the priest is able to spend two rounds, plus oneround per level (to a maximum 1 turn total), in contact with his or herdeity. Thus, a 5th-level priest can seek illumination for seven rounds whileone round passes for all others. The priest can request information in theform of questions that can be answered by a simple “yes” or “no”. The priestis allowed one such question per phantom round. Optionally, the DM maygive a single short answer of five words or less rather than answering “yes”or “no” The answers given are correct within the limits of the entity’sknowledge. (I don’t know” is a legitimate answer.) The spell will, at best,provide information to aid character decisions, and the deity contactedstructures its answers to further its own purposes.

While affected by the illumination spell, rather than ask a question duringa round, the caster can request that the power contacted bestow a cure lightwounds, cure blindness or deafness, cure disease, prayer, or free action spell uponhim or her. The casting of any of these spells other than cure light wounds,which may be granted up to four times, ends the spell, and no further ques-tions are answered by the deity contacted. The caster cannot cast spells onothers while affected by an illuminate spell, nor can she or he move, becomeinvisible, or engage in any other action other than those described above.

The material components of this spell are the priest’s holy symbol andholy water.

Amaunatori Spells2nd LevelAmaunator’s Uncertainty (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: LawRange: 30 yardsComponents: V, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 1Area of Effect: 40-foot sphereSaving Throw: Neg.Creatures affected by this spell pause in uncertainty before executing theirintended actions. In a combat situation, this equates to an initiative penaltyequal to one-third the spellcaster’s level (rounded down). This reactionpenalty begins the round after the spell is cast. In a noncombative situation,the victim pauses one-third of a round (about 20 seconds) per level of thecaster before executing an action.

6th Level

The spell affects 2d4 plus one-half the caster’s level in Hit Dice or levelsof creatures within the area of effect. All possible victims are allowed a sav-ing throw vs. spell to completely negate the effects. If affected victims leavethe area of effect, they still suffer the spell’s effects until the spell expires.

The material component of the spell is a fragment of a turtle’s shell.

4th LevelAdvanced Sunshine (Alteration)Sphere: SunRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 15 feet/levelSaving Throw: SpeedThis spell is a multiuse incantation that can be cast in one of three forms.Unfortunately, the casting of this spell borrows the sunshine for the day it iscast (or the next day if cast at night) to render these effects. This spell is very)unpopular among farmers and ranchers, who see it as a miscarriage of divineintervention.� Light: Advanced sunshine can be used to borrow sunlight from later in the

day (or the next day if at night) to create light now. This is useful in cav-erns or at night. This form of the spell is treated as a light spell lasting oneturn per level of the caster, but it shortens the day’s sunshine by oneminute per level.

Sun Scepter (Enchantment/Charm, Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Sun, LawRange: TouchComponents: V, MDuration: 1 turnCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThe casting of this spell borrows an hour of daytime from the day it is cast(or the next day if cast at night) to render its effects. Sun scepter temporarilyenchants a solid gold scepter or mace that the caster touches into a magicalitem of some potency. When sun scepter is cast, the golden scepter glowswith the same brightness and illumination as a continual light spell. The indi-vidual holding the scepter when the spell is cast can immediately commandthe obedience and fealty of creatures within 120 feet of his or her locationwhen the spell is completed. From 200 to 500 Hit Dice (or levels of experi-ence) can be ruled, but creatures with 15 or greater Intelligence and 12 ormore Hit Dice/ levels are entitled to a saving throw vs. spell. If they succeed,this power is negated for them.

Ruled creatures obey the wielder of the sun scepter as if she or he weretheir absolute sovereign. Still, if the wielder gives a command that is ab-solutely contrary to the nature of the creatures commanded, the rulershippower is broken.

While the rulership power is only effective upon the creatures within 120feet of the sun scepter wielder when the spell is cast, the sun scepter can alsobe wielded as a magical weapon that inflicts ld8+3 points of damage untilthe spell expires. Against golems, the sun scepter causes 2d8+6 points of

damage. If a natural 20 is rolled on the attack roll, the sun scepter completelydestroys the golem but is itself destroyed in the process. Against creatures ofthe Outer Planes, the sun scepter inflicts 1d8+3 points of damage. If the at-tack roll is a natural 20, the scepter causes triple damage, but the spell is alsoimmediately ended (though the golden scepter is not destroyed).

The material component of this spell is a solid gold scepter or maceworth at least 2,500 gp. It is not consumed in the casting of the spell exceptunder the conditions described above.

Ao(Lord Ao, the Hidden One)Over-power of the Cosmos and RealmspacePORTFOLIO: Creation of deities, maintenance of cosmic balanceALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Unknown (if he even has one)SUPERIOR: A luminous beingSYMBOL: NoneWOR. ALIGN.: A n yBefore the Time of Troubles, the question of who the gods answered to was aphilosophical conundrum better suited to sages than priests. During the comingof the Avatars, however, it was revealed that the powers themselves had a deity,or at least a more powerful power who had the ability to chasten and punishthem for their actions. This entity is Ao (AY-oh). He was present during theTime of Troubles, yet since that time has retreated to his home plane, dimen-sion, or existence, and has not responded to mortal entreaties since (thoughone paladin claims to have seen him in a vision). While the inhabitants of theRealms are aware of Ao’s existence, there is little reason for them to call on himor seek his words of wisdom, which would be unforthcoming in any case.

Ao is the only over-power in Realmspace. Ao lies beyond the bounds ofthe rankings of deities’ powers in any way. He is considered to be more pow-erful than any other power and all powers combined. Ao has little concernfor day-to-day mortal life, but he regards the powers of the Realms as his cre-ations. He requires no worshipers and grants no spells to mortals. It is doubt-ful that he even listens to mortal prayers or pleas. He serves as a watcher anda guardian over the Realms from outside of its cosmos.

Ao�s Avatar and Other ManifestationsAo, when he appears (as he’s only done once), takes a form that is 12 feettall. His face is ageless, neither young nor old. His visage is neither hand-some nor ugly, and has even, symmetrical, and unremarkable features. Hishair and beard are white. He wears a robe that appears to be made of celes-tial cloth. The robe is black and dotted by millions of stars and thousands ofmoons, all arranged in a pattern that is not quite perceptible, but whichgives the whole robe a beautiful, harmonious feel.

Theoretically, Ao’s avatar can do anything. Normally he acts only upondeities, not mortals. Ao may promote any sentient being to any stature of god-hood instantly if it accepts the responsibilities and duties of the divine state,and he may also demote a deity at will.

The ChurchCLERGY: Ministers, who may be of any class except those of the

priest groupCLERGY’S ALIGN.: Any, but most are neutralImmediately following the Time of Troubles, cults grew up that worshiped Aodirectly. These cults appeared suddenly and then evaporated just as quicklywhen it became clear that Ao did not answer prayers, offer protection, orgrant spells to faithful priests. Direct worship of Ao has subsided, save for acult in Waterdeep itself and a cult in Ao’s name in Zazesspur in Tethyr whichturned out to be backed by Cyric, not Ao. The group in Waterdeep tends tobehave more like a debating society than a church, and its members act in ac-cordance with the tenets they believe Ao espoused by seeking to maintainthe balance among the various deities and their faiths.

The established faiths of Faerûn do not see any reason to speak out againstor act against the cult of Ao, because they do not fear it. Their high priestshave been informed by their deities that Ao does not interact with mortals.

Cult members and ministers receive no spells or special powers at all fromAo. The cult of Ao has no priests. Cults of Ao which do receive spells or spe-cial powers are not truly cults of Ao, and their abilities are being supplied byanother deity (such as Cyric) or through the clever use of magical items.

Dogma: Most doctrinal discussions of the Waterdhavian cult of Ao arepartially or totally phrased as questions. These include: Ao is the over-power,but what does that mean, really? Does Ao worship someone? What wouldthat being’s function be? If Ao did not create the Realms, only the powers of

the Realms, then who did—if anyone? Some cults of Ao are more activistand feel that it is their responsibility to ensure that all faiths in the Realms ac-tively support the assigned portfolios of their deities.

Day-to-Day Activities: Most of the activities of the cult center arounddebating the meaning of Ao’s nature, what he said during his sole appear-ance during the Time of Troubles, and whether he serves another over-over-power himself.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: On Gods’ Day, a Waterdhavianholiday on the 15th day of Marpenoth celebrating the anniversary of theend of the Godswar (and the day when Lord Ao appeared on Mount Water-deep), a day-long party is sponsored by the cult of Ao in the Cynosure inWaterdeep. The celebration is followed by a solemn evening prayer service.

Major Centers of Worship: Ao’s cult raised a temple to Ao in Water-deep called the Temple of the Overgod Ao, but when Ao continued toprove indifferent to worshipers, the building was renamed the Cynosure. Itnow serves as a public forum and rental hall.

Affiliated Orders: None.Priestly Vestments: The ceremonial garb of the ministers (not priests) of

Ao is black trousers and shirt over which is worn a long, flowing robe of blackdotted with either white spots or jeweled spangles. Ao has no holy symbol.

Adventuring Garb: Ministers of Ao wear whatever is currently in fash-ion, appropriate for the weather, or suited to their profession when they arenot holding services.

Auril(Frostmaiden, Icedawn, the Cold Goddess,Lady Frostkiss)Lesser Power of Pandemonium, NEPORTFOLIO:ALIASES:DOMAIN NAME:SUPERIOR:ALLIES:FOES:

SYMBOL:

WOR. ALIGN.:

Cold, winterSaukuruk (among the peoples of the Great Glacier)Pandesmos/Winter’s HallTalosTalos, Umberlee, MalarAt’ar (Amaunator—now dead), Moander (now dead),Sune, Chauntea, Shiallia, UthgarA white snowflake on a gray diamond (a heraldiclozenge) with a white borderLN, N, CN, LE, NE, CEAuril (AWE-ril) is most powerful in those regions thatare affected by deep winters or crouch at the edges of theGreat Glacier. She is worshiped primarily out of fear. Sheserves Talos and is one of the Gods of Fury, and much ofher ethos is similar to that of the god of nature’s destruc-tion. She has seen much of her personal power eroded byTalos, and as a result, the winters have grown colder inthe past decade to remind the northerners who still con-

trols the power of cold. While she can call on the other Gods of Fury foraid, she only does so with Umberlee with any confidence; Talos usually re-sponds hut then directs all the glory and worship to himself, and Malar de-spises her. The feeling is mutual.

When portrayed, Auril appears similar to her Frostmaiden avatar (seebelow). She is a fickle, vain, and evil creature whose cold divine heart re-mains untouched by any hint of true love, noble feeling, or honor. Sheoften toys with those who offend her, trapping them in snow storms andthen driving them insane by tantalizing them with visions of warmth andthe comforts of home before she freezes them to death. Her eternal beautyis cold and deadly, the flower of womanhood preserved forever in a slab ofarctic ice—with sensibilities to match the ice.

Auril�s Avatar (Mage 27, Fighter 20, Cleric 15)Auril appears most often in one of two avatar forms: the Frostmaiden orIcedawn. The Frostmaiden is a lithe, furious figure of action and is the mostoften seen avatar of Auril in all regions of Faerûn except the south and east.Her skin is blue, her hair is long, free-flowing, and white, and a fine gown ofwhite lawn thickly furred with frost swirls about her. The Frostmaiden cancast spells from all schools except elemental fire and all spheres except ele-mental fire. She can only cast spells that have a negative effect on plantsand animals, such as to cause them to rot or be held, except in the case ofanimal summoning spells, which always bring arctic creatures to her aid.She casts only reversed (darkness) spells from the Sun sphere. All coldspells she casts are at triple normal damage and a -3 penalty to any applic-able saving throws.

Icedawn is a silent, gliding apparition of icy hauteur, an impassive figurean ornate crown and hooked, spurred armor of opaque, light blue ice.

are female. Specialty priests of Auril, called icepriestesses and icepriests,make up one-third Auril’s priesthood. The relationship between the spe-incialty priests and the clerics of Auril is very good. The entire church is veryShe casts no spells.loosely and informally organized, and clergy members wander and are largelyindependent. Most priests of Auril use only the honorific “Hand of Auril” or“Icebreath,” but at temples such as the House of Auril’s Breath at Glister theclergy use formal titles. In ascending order, these are: Postulant, Votre,Icewind, Storm Sister/Storm Brother (a title given to the great bulk ofpriests between 3rd level and 8th), Frosttouch, Lady/Lord Cold), Lady/LordDeep Winter, Lady/Lord Cold Circle, and High Hand of Ice.

AC -2; MV 15 (Frostmaiden) or Fl 15 (Icedawn); HP 201; THAC0 1; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d6+6 or +9 (ice axe +3, frost brand, +6 vs. fire-using/dwelling creatures, +1Str, +2 spec. bonus in ice axe)MR 60%; SZ L (10 feet)Str 16, Dex 18, Con 25, Int 23, Wis 16, Cha 23Spells P: 8/8/6/6/4/2/1, W: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/5/5Saves PPDM 3, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: The Frostmaiden tends to hurl Otiluke’s freezing spheres,ice storms, walls of ice, and cones of cold with swift anger. She casts those spellsas a magical ability, but still receives the bonuses noted above once. She mayuse this ice magic ability once per round in addition to her other actions.The touch of her gown or her hand leaves the frost brand, a permanent blue,translucent scar that marks through flesh, wood, and stone alike. She carriesan ice axe +3, frost brand, but prefers to use spells. (Attackers of the Frost-maiden must make a saving throw vs. spell each round they are within meleerange of her or be marked by the frost brand, which also causes 2d8 points of

Because of their immunity to natural cold, priestesses of Auril are oftenseen scampering lightly through the snows in summer-weight clothing orbathing in frigid river waters in the depths of winter to no apparent ill effect.They need much less food than other beings because of this ability, andoften roam the northlands energetically when blizzards have forced otherfolk to hole up against the weather. Many priestesses of Auril make a hand-some living delivering medicines,the northlands in winter.

messages, and needed supplies throughout

Dogma: Auril charges her clergy to: “CoverQuench fire wherever it is found. Let in the winds

all the lands with ice.and the cold;cut down

windbreaks and chop holes in walls and roofs that my breath may come in.Work darknesses to hide the cursed sun so that the chill I brine may slay.

cold damage the first time itmarks a person or thing.)Icedawn can at will turnall priest and wizard magicsof 6th level orless

Take the life of an arctic creaturewill. Make all Faerûn fear me.”

only in great need, but slay allothers atback at their sources. Her appearance always costs the life of any Aurilianpriests who are present, freezing them internally. (If they are not shattered,they can later be raisedfrom the dead.) She does not hurl spells or bandy Auril’s clergy are commanded to revere her and sing her praises into any

chill breeze or winter wind. They are to make all creatures fear or worshipwords, but simply drifts about, trailing a thick rime of ice that coats every-thing in her wake. Her passage freezes everything within 20 feet of where shepasses that is not protected by magic solid. Plants are automatically killed un-

her and to bring down her cold power against all so that all may know herand quake before her. They are not to raise their hands against any other

less they are sentient, in which case they may attempt a saving throw vs.death magic to be merely forced into hibernation instead. All other living

priest of AurilDay-to-Day Activities: Clergy of Auril seek to make all folk fear their

goddess and her clergy (to cut down on the attacks they face) through thefury of the winter weather. They also try to make themselves personallywealthy and influential by carrying out tasks that others cannot in theworst winter weather and by magically protecting those who pay or obeyfrom the worst winter conditions. Clergy members make offerings to thegoddess of some of the wealth they amass by scattering it in falling snowduring a storm or throwing it through cracks in river ice or glacial crevassesduring the winter.

things must make a successful saving throw vs. death magic every round theyare within 20 feet of her or die. In addition, living beings in contact with asubstantial amount of metal (armored, for instance) take 2d4 points of colddamage each round they remain within 20 feet of Icedawn. Liquids within 20feet of her freeze solid automatically, and this forces potions within range tomake a successful saving throw vs. cold or be destroyed. Metals and stonewithin 20 feet of her become chilled and brittle; they shatter 20% of the timeif dropped or struck with a successful attack roll. Magical items or constructsmay make a saving throw vs. crushingblow if the percentile roll indicatesthey shatter to avoid this.

In the cold months, Auril expects each of her priests to force or persuadesomeone to pray to her in the approved manner by beseeching Auril formercy and praising her for the “cold cleansing” she brings. This prayer mustlast for the length of time it takes a piece of ice larger than the “supplicant’s”hand to melt against his or her bared flesh. It must be done out of doors andpreferably at night. During the winter, Aurilian clergy are also expected toslay at least one creature by cold. This is often done so as to provide wor-shipers or potential worshipers of the goddess with food or to slay a personalfoe of the priestess or priest.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Midwinter Night is the most holytime of the year to clergy of Auril. It is a festival of icc-dancing that lasts thewhole night through, during which the goddess desires her clergy both toenjoy themselves and to lure as many folk as possible into her service.

Postulants are instructed in the ways of the goddess, and must undergothe most sacred ritual of Auril to gain admittance into her clergy: the Em-bracing. This personal ritual may occur at any time of year, but if it is in sum-mer, the postulant must journey to arctic or high mountain regions in orderto find a blizzard. The Embracing consists of running through a blizzard allnight long dressed in only boots (though they may he thigh-high), a thinshift, and body paint depicting symbols sacred to Auril. Celebrants eitherperish of exposure or are accepted by the goddess by being rescued from thepain and shivering by Her Embrace.

Thereafter, clergy members usually pray in private, by lying out in thesnow all night long in prayer vigil. In summer, her clergy usually immersethemselves (except for their heads) in the coldest water they can find, typi-cally by lying down in a fast-flowing stream. Auril answers their queries andgives them directions and missions through mind visions.

Two informal but enthusiastically celebrated rituals are the ComingStorm and the Last Storm—howling ice storms called up by clergy workingen masse with all the cold magic they can muster. Together they bring fierceweather down upon a town or region to mark the onset of winter or its lastgasp as spring begins.

Major Centers of Worship: The House of Auril’s Breath in Glister,north of the Moonsea, is the largest and most influential temple to the coldgoddess, boasting a congregation of over 1,600 gathering around the fires fornightly Fire and Ice rituals (all of them miners and fur trappers too afraid not

Other ManifestationsAuril usually manifests as icy breath accompanied by a cold,ruthlesschuck-ling and a blue-white radiance that leaves a thin line of frostto marksage. She also appears as a blank-eyed

its pas-face of frost with long, wind-whipped

white hair that radiates intense cold.Auril uses this latter manifestation ifshe wants to speak, slay, or confer items of power upon worshipers. She slayswith her life-chilling kiss and confers boons by breathing them out of theface’s mouth. Her victims must make a successful saving throw vs. deathmagic tosurvive the face’s kiss.

Auril also indicates her favor or disfavoror sends aidthrough the pres-ence or actions of water elementals, ice para-elementals, undead, winterwolves, frost giants, and other arctic creatures.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, shamansCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Sha: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, Sha: YesAll clerics, specialty priests, and shamans of Auril receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Upon being Embraced by the god-dess, clerics of Auril become immune to natural cold damage and the ef-fects of exposure.

Auril is feared and worshiped in order to hold off the depredations of theharsh winters withwhich she threatensFaerûn. Trappers, miners,and set-tlers in the North,some barbarians and inhabitants of the GreatGlacier,and residents of the lands crouching at any glacier’s edgerevere her andhonor her in attempts to placate her cold fury come wintertime. In recentyears, winters have been getting longer andcolder, and more and more folkhave been making the prayers to Aurilthat her clergy urge be done. A fewclans of frost giants are led by shamans in her service.

Priestesses of Auril roam the lands of Faerûn, especially in the North,though her clergy are now being seen more often in the Heartlands. Auril’schurch has a few males within its ranks, but most clergy of the Frostmaiden

to venerate Auril). High Hand of Ice (high priest) Malakhar Rhenta leadsthe Storm Circle of 14 or so senior priestesses in running the temple andplanning the weather magic they work. The House of Auril�s breath isknown more commonly to those not of the faith as �the Cold House� or,more bitterly, �Cold Comfort Towers.�

Affiliated Orders: Auril�s church has no affiliated military or knightly or-ders. She is just not of a mind to sponsor prolonged martial actions; she wouldrather send a blizzard down on those who offend her than troops. An odd as-sortment of cults and fellowships have grown up around or become attachedto her worship, though. These groups include the Cult of Frost, whose drivinggoal is the acquisition of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter; a group ofwizards known at the Frost Witches, who have recorded at least one tome offrost and cold magic in Auril�s name and are reputed to know the location ofthe Codicil of White, a priestly book describing Aurilian rituals and contain-ing some wizard spells also; and the Sisters of Istishia, who worship Istishia asa herald of cold and servant of Auril. The Sisters of Istishia�s worship seems tobenefit Istishia, not Auril, as a few Aurilian priestesses have been given a di-vine mandate to seek out the Sisters and �correct� their theology.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Auril wear ice-white ceremonial robeswith blue piping. The robes are cinched at the waist by a very wide silverbelt, which also holds the requisite ceremonial ice axe. The ice axe bears thesnowflake-in-lozenge symbol of the faith. (The ice axe is treated as a handaxe for combat purposes.) A silver circlet on the head is the final touch.

Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, most priests of Auril wear atleast the circlet, the belt, and the ice axe with their normal day-to-dayclothes. Since they are immune to the effects of cold, they usually wear onlywhat clothing they think enhances their appearance, not necessarily whatothers are wearing for the weather. They never encumber themselves withexcessive clothing or large sleeping bundles, preferring to travel light formaximum mobility.

Specialty Priests (Icepriestesses/Icepriests)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:

Constitution, WisdomNEAll bludgeoning weapons and the ice axeAll armor types up to and including chain mail andshield

Constitution 13, Wisdom 12

MAJOR SPHERESS:

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

All, animal, combat, divination, elemental (no fire-re-lated spells), healing, necromantic, protection, time,weatherCreation, guardian, wardsAs clericsWeather sense, ice axeDirection sense

� Icepriestesses and icepriests have an immunity to cold similar to a per-manent resist cold spell. They are immune to natural cold and have a +3bonus when making saving throws vs. any cold- or ice-based attacks.They suffer no damage from such an attack on a successful saving throwand only half damage on a failed one.

� Icepriestesses and icepriests can cast frost fingers (as the 1st-level priestspell) once per day.

� At 3rd level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast frost whip (as the2nd-level priest spell) once per day.

� At 5th level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast ice blade (as the4th-level priest spell) once per day.

� At 8th level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast ice storm or wallof ice (as the 4th-level wizard spells) twice per tenday.

� At 10th level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast cone of cold (asthe 5th-level wizard spell) once per day.

� At 12th level, icepriestesses and icepriests have the ability to summon anice para-elemental (as the conjure fire elemental spell) once per tenday.They may do so an additional time per tenday for every level over 12.

Aurilian Spells1st LevelFrost Fingers (Evocation)Sphere: Combat, WeatherRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: InstantaneousCasting Time: 3Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: ½

creature in this area suffers 1d3 points of damage plus 2 points for every

Liquids engulfed by the cold freeze unless an item saving throw vs. cold issuccessful.

Frost fingers is a cold form of the burning hands 1st-level wizard spell. Whencast, it causes freezing cold and shards of ice to blast from the caster�s fin-gertips to a distance of 3 feet in a 120-degree arc in front of the caster. Any

level of the spellcaster, to a maximum of 1d3+20 points of cold damage.Those who make a successful saving throw vs. spell receive half damage.

2nd LevelFrost Whip (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Combat, WeatherRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: Flexible 6-foot-long beam 4 inches in diameterSaving Throw: ½This spell creates a beam of frost stretching from the caster's hand. With aone-round delay, it can be shifted to any other body extremity; this ability isnormally used only when the caster is climbing, dangling down from a ledge,or pinned under foes. The beam lasts until the spell expires, the caster willsthe magic to end, or the priest undertakes the casting of another spell.

A frost whip is commonly swung about to lash foes. It can pass throughthem like a force, rather than a real whip, so that if the caster faces severalopponents, it can be swung in an arc through all of them. If held in front ofthe body or across an opening, it can sometimes be made unavoidable sothat foes must take damage from it, but it otherwise attacks once per roundat the caster�s normal THAC0 for 4d4 points of damage. A successful sav-ing throw vs. spell reduces the damage by half.

A gently applied frost whip can also freeze windows shut, stop pipes, freezewater, ruin fruits and vegetables, and render items fragile or surfaces slippery.

4th Level

Ice Blade (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Combat, WeatherRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 4Area of Effect: 4-foot-long, 4-inch-wide field of forceSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a swirling sword-shaped formation of jagged, fast-swirling ice shards extending from the caster�s hand. Weightless and non-metallic, it is considered a +2 enchanted weapon for purposes of determin-ing what it can hit and strikes at THAC0 6, regardless of the caster�s nor-mal combat abilities. An ice blade can pass through (be swept across) par-rying weapons and obstacles such as trees without being stopped by them.It touch lacerates for 3d4 points of damage and chills for an additional1d6 points of damage.

The material component for this spell is a shard of ice, glass, or crystal.

7th LevelHeart of Ice (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: S

PermanentDuration:Casting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell requires intense concentration (hence the long casting time) andcan only be delivered by touch, requiring a successful attack roll to deliveron any but totally immobilized opponents. Victims turn black, are coveredby a thin sheen of white frost, and instantly begin to shiver uncontrollably,making spellcasting, attacks, or any other activity except falling in a certaindirection or shouting impossible. Victims must make a successful savingthrow vs. death magic or die, as their hearts freeze and shatter. Those whosuccessfully save suffer 5d8 points of internal damage instead, but as a side-effect are also rendered immune to all cold damage for 1 damage per level ofthe caster of the heart of ice. Creatures normally able to exist in frigid con-ditions (including priests of Auril, white dragons, remorhaz, winter wolves,and creatures from the Para-elemental Plane of Ice) are immune to thisspell or suffer only 1d4+1 points damage from internal bruising.

Azuth(The High One, Patron of Wizards, the Lord of Spells.the Hand of Sorcery, the Lord of Spellcraft)Lesser Power of Arcadia, LNPORTFOLIO: Wizards, mages, spellcasters in generalALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Buxenus/AzuthSUPERIOR: MystraALLIES: Mystra, Savras the All-Seeing, Velsharoon the Vaunted,

Oghma, Deneir, Leira (now dead)FOES: CyricSYMBOL: A human left hand, pointing upward, outlined in a nim-

bus of blue fireWOR. ALIGN.: A n y

Azuth (Ah-ZOOTH) is the god of wizards and magesand to a much lesser degree, all spellcasters, as opposedto Mystra, who is the goddess of all magic. Azuth is Mys-tra’s servant, friend, and advisor. This last role has be-come even more important in the years since the Timeof Troubles. Before the Godswar, he and Mystra weremuch closer and very affectionate toward one another,but Azuth’s relationship with Mldnight/Mystra is much

more professional. He regards the new Mystra as an inexperienced daughterfacing a taxing and complex job whom he must coach to allow her to bestperform her duties. In religious art, Azuth is most often portrayed as abearded old man unbent by age, wielding a stout, gem-topped staff.

Savras the All-Seeing, a rival god of mages whom Azuth defeated, wasAzuth’s foe for centuries. Savras now serves Azuth, albeit uneasily, as ademipower of diviners and truth-speakers. The two deities seem to cau-tiously be working toward friendship and a formal division of duties, albeitwith Savras continuing to serve Azuth. Azuth also works closely to guide theMagister, the mortal spellwielding champion of magic who serves Mystra.Likewise, Velsharoon, demipower of necromancy, must pay at least lip ser-vice to Azuth’s commands.

Azuth is a sober sort of father-figure deity, but he is not humorless ormean-spirited. He has a rather dry, sardonic wit and appreciates plays onwords and subtle humor. He has perfected a straight-faced delivery to such adegree that often those who hear him speak are left wondering whethersome of his comments were said seriously or in jest. When he is in goodhumor, he likes to present those who have called on him with small gifts,such as flowers in unusual colors, magical fabric of elegant drape, or edibledelicacies. When he is upset, his wrath is terrible to behold as the air crack-les with magical energy about him that seems to flow both into and out ofhis eyes and the Old Staff, a divine artifact of ancient construction that hewields to devastating effect.

Azuth�s Avatar (Mage 30, Cleric 30)Azuth is commonly depicted as a white-bearded, white-haired vigorous oldman dressed in gray silk robes carrying a staff one and a half times his heightthat is topped with a huge, cabochon-cut topaz. He never wears a hat. Azuthcan shape change at will, and he often appears as a 20-foot-tall pyramid shapewith no apparent eyes or mouth that is covered with sparkling, pulsinglights. In this shape, he glides along, perfectly able to see, speak, and unleashspells. He can cast spells from any school or sphere.

AC -4; MV 15, FL 24; HP 176; THAC0 2; #AT 1Dmg 1d6+3, +6. or +9 (The Old Staff—as a staff of striking)MR 90%; SZ L (10 feet)Str 12, Dex 18, Con 23, Int 25, Wis 23, Cha 18Spells: P: 13/12/12/12/11/10/8, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6Saves PPDM 2*, RSW 3*, PP 5*, BW 7*, Sp 4*

*Actually PPDM 1, RSW 1, PP 3, BW 5, Sp 1 after saving throw bonuses for staffof the magi and staff of power (minimum 1).

Special Att/Def: All spells Azuth casts are always for maximum dura-tion, damage, healing, or any other random variable, and he may custom-shape the area of effect of any spell he casts to his desires. Azuth can alwayscast two offensive and one defensive or miscellaneous spell per round. Hecan discern the abilities of any type of magical weapons he is confrontedwith on sight and arrange his tactics to best counter them. His touch negatesthe effects of magical items as a rod of cancellation when he so wills it.

He wields the Old Staff. The Old Staff has all the powers of a staff of themagi and a staff of power and can unleash two spells per round plus use one of

its twoenlarge

special powers. Its normal abilities include the power to shrinkitself, turn invisible, fly about and return to Azuth’s hand, and

itself,plane

shift or dimension door at Azuth’s command. Azuth can control it from a dis-tance so that it unleashes spells when apart from him in addition to anymagic Azuth may be personally wielding.

The Old Staff has two special powers: It can reflect all magic cast at it andat Azuth in a round 100% back at the source or sources even if the two areseparated by vast distances (so long as they are on the same plane), or it canabsorb beings into the Spirit Stone, the gem atop it. Beings who have (orhave been reduced to) 2 HD or less in levels or current hit points get no sav-ing throw vs. spell against this effect; others get a saving throw at -1 pereach Hit Die’s worth of hit points in damage they currently are at belowtheir normal total.

He is immune to all 7th-level and greater wizardly magics, spells from thespheres of thought, time, and charm, enchantment/charm spells, illusionsand all illusion/phantasm magic. All spells cast to Azuth’a detriment tar-geted at him or including him in their area of effect are always for minimumduration, damage, or any other random variable.

Other ManifestationsAzuth sometimes appears as a glowing, intangible floating mouth sur-rounded by mustache and beard and sometimes as a white, glowing, uprighthand with its forefinger extended to a point that is outlined with a shim-mering silver aura. Most often he appears as an electric blue radiance. Some-times he manifests merely as an echoing, dry, male voice or such a voice ac-companies another manifestation. In all manifestations, he has the power tounleash spells, identify from a distance without triggering the powers of anitem or spell, and know the end result of any magic he sees being cast beforeit takes effect.

Azuth also acts or shows his favor through the appearance or presence ofpure gray cats and dogs (which Azuthans consider lucky), gray owls, graymice, golems, watchghosts, devas, and the Favored. The Favored are humanarchmages given a second life by Azuth to serve him with their spells and re-searches. They can fly and employ ESP at will, but are otherwise livingmages in all respects.

The ChurchCLERGY: Wizards, clerics, specialty priests, monksCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, LN, N, CN, LETURN UNDEAD: W: No, C: Yes, SP: No, Mon: NoCMND. UNDEAD: W: No. C: No, SP: No, Mon: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and monks of Azuth receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Azuth can cast priestspells faster than other priests. Their casting time on all priest spells of oneround or less is reduced by 3 (for example, a casting time of 7 would be re-duced to 4). Those spells that take more than one round to cast still takethem the usual amount of time. Priest spells cast by a priests of Azuth alwayshave a casting time of at least 1.

Azuthan clergy tend to be folk who love magic for its own sake. They donot exult in power, for that is the tendency of those who enjoy what magic canallow them to do to others, but in elegance, complexities of dweomer, and deftuse of spells. Wizards, clerics, specialty priests, and monks serve in the clergy ofAzuth. Within the church hierarchy, 45% of the titled clergy are wizards. An-other 30% are clerics, who form the strong right arm of the faith, 20% are spe-cialty priests, and 5% are monks. Relationships between the three groups aregood, though there is some resentment against a current trend to promote spe-cialty priests into positions of power. However, because of this trend, morenovices of the Azuthan faith have chosen the path of a specialty priest than acleric. Specialty priests of Azuth are known as magistrati.

In areas where Azuth has temples, shrines and monastic communities,the ruling (not necessarily the most powerful) clergy member holds the titleof “the First” and is addressed as “Revered One.” Other clergy members inlarge clerical communities have expanded on this idea: The most powerfuluser of alteration magic is called First Transmuter, the leading specialist indivination magic is First Diviner, etc. The First may bestow or revoke suchtitles within his or her parish. Clergy members of high rank and long yearsin the church are granted the title of Master. Azuthan clergy eschew mostfurther titles.

Dogma: Followers of Azuth feel that reason is the best way to approachmagic, and that it may be examined and reduced to its component partsthrough study and meditation. Calm and caution are the watchwords ofAruthan clergy members as they strive to avoid mistakes that even magiccannot undo. They are taught to use Art (magic) wisely and to be alwaysmindful of when it is best not to use magic.

Novices in the faith are charged to: “Teach the wielding of magic, anddispense scrolls, items, and spellbooks throughout Faerûn that the use andknowledge of magic may spread. Encourage everyone to try their hand atwielding magic. Drive home the lesson that with magical power comes graveresponsibility, and live that lesson yourself. Try to gain a copy of every newspell, spell variant, or magical idea you encounter without regard for itsworth or importance—and make a copy of that copy for a temple library.Train others in what you know of magic, not hoarding your knowledge foryourself, and encourage creativity in magic in all ways and at all times.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Azuthan clergy members very often serve asmessengers between mages. They strive to remain above reproach and to beregarded as trusted neutral parties by all. They organize annual Mage Fairs,and at those Mage Fairs they try to settle feuds, curb overly destructive or de-ceitful magic, and sponsor spellweaving contests. They also give out scrollsof the winning spells from previous years and small, useful magical items asprizes in these contests.

Most wizards see the priesthood as helpful, but members of the church ofAzuth may go to great lengths to serve a prime goal that many wizards do notfind so pleasing: They try to ensure that no spell or magical item is unique toone mage in Faerûn so that the death of a single wizard does not take anyspell or the knowledge of how to construct an item out of the world forever.Azuthan clergy members do this by magical spying (and even temporarythefts), by copying every wizardly writing they can find including commandwords and cryptic phrases (not just complete incantations), by encouragingthe barter of spells, and by organizing tome drives in which wizards are paidhandsomely to contribute a spell to the latest folio of the ongoing Azuthanspell cyclopedia (a written collection of spells from various mages duplicatedmagically in bulk, bound, and distributed by the priesthood for a minor feecovering production costs).

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The church of Azuth holds a holyrevel to mark the ascension of a new Magister and of any mage to the ranks ofthe Favored. Every twilight the faithful of Azuth pray silently to the HighOne for guidance in all their doings that day and the next. Azuthan priestsotherwise avoid a lot of ceremony, but in temples and abbeys of the Lord ofSpells, all three major meals of the day are accompanied by readings from thewritings of great mages on the ethics of magic use, speculations as to whatmagic can be made to do in the future, and various philosophies of magic.

When a being is confirmed as a priest of Azuth, she or he must undergothe Transforming, a ritual in which the novice spends a tenday in thrall toan involuntary, ongoing shape change cast on him or her by a Master. In thisceremony, the novice must see life through the eyes of a bewildering varietyof shapes forced upon him or her in succession by the magic. No shape thenovice is placed in is unable to survive in the environment in which this rit-ual takes place, but the experience is typically humbling. The ritual is typi-cally held in a walled, secluded temple garden that is temporarily off limitsto all others, but which normally serves as a place for contemplation. Thespell used in this ritual is a church secret, and it has been used by some Mas-ters on foes in the defense of temples and abbeys under attack.

Azuthan clergy and laity alike also celebrate occasional Wild Nights, inwhich they dance in the midst of unleashed wild magic just to feel its powerand effects. (Other wizards and priests stand by to rescue anyone who runsinto harm.)

Major Centers of Worship: The House of the High One in Saerloon isthe most revered temple of the Azuthan faith. It is run jointly by six Masters(all human male priests or wizards of 18th or greater level): Helven, Lhun,Mirren, Ormil, Riilath, and Thelcaunt. Another very powerful temple ofAzuth is the House of the High One Ascendant. It is located in the moun-tains near Lhair in western Halruaa. Here First Arleenaya Kithmaer runs ahuge temple complex expanded out from natural caverns in the mountainsand fronted by a grand formal stone archway and portico ornamented by thefinest carvings stone shape and grand master sculptors can achieve.

Affiliated Orders: Azuthan clergy members who have done great ser-vice in recovering magical knowledge thought lost are often voted into theOrder of the Forgotten Page by the Firsts of the church and allowed to weara special silver trim on the collars of their ceremonial vestments. Membersof the faith who have served the church in helping to eliminate a magicalimbalance or monstrosity are granted the title “Shield of the High One,”given a minor protective magical item, and told a secret phrase or word thatallows them aid from any temple or shrine of Azuth in the form of healing,shelter, and small loans, when necessary.

Priestly Vestments: The vestments of the priesthood of Azuth areshimmering gray and usually made of silk, though these are layered withheavier and more sensible materials in the North. The symbol of Azuth isworn on the chest, and the color of the aura on the symbol denotes an indi-

vidual’s rank within the church. Most acolytes, monks, mage apprentices,and adventurers have a yellow aura surrounding the symbol of Azuth.Higher level adventurers and clergy members at large without official posi-tion wear symbols with a red aura. Those with First designation in thechurch have a white aura. When not used to identify rank, the symbol ofAzuth has a blue aura. In the North, usually only the forefinger of Azuth’ssymbol is shown ablaze. From Chessenta southward—notably in Halruaa—the entire hand is surrounded by flame.

Adventuring Garb: In the field, clergy of Azuth wear sensible clothing,predominantly in shades of gray. They wear the symbol of their faith overtheir hearts, either stitched onto a tunic or robes or inlaid in metal armor.

Specialty Priests (Magistrati)REQUIREMENTS: Intelligence 13, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Intelligence, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : L NWEAPONS: Any bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: NoneM AJOR SPHERES: A l l , as t ra l , charm, combat , c rea t ion , d iv ina t ion ,

guardian, healing, law, necromantic, protection, sum-moning, sun, thought, wards

MINOR SPHERES: Elemental, travelers, warMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, plus all items normally usable by wizards

including magical scrollsREQ. PROFS: SpellcraftBONUS PROFS: None• Like all Azuthan priests, magistrati can cast priest spells faster than other

priests. Their casting time on all priest spells of one round or less is re-duced by 3 (for example, a casting time of 7 would be reduced to 4).Spells taking more than one round to cast still require the usual amountof time. Priest spells cast by a magistrata always have a casting time of atleast 1.

• Magistrati, starting at 2nd level, may cast wizard spells in addition topriest spells. Magistrati cast these as mages of half their actual level (dropfractions). For example, a 3rd-level magistrata casts wizard spells as a 1st-level mage and cannot gain spells that are not available to a 1st-levelmage.

Magistrati pray for their wizard spells instead of studying to memorizethem, and chosen wizard spells replace clerical spells potentially avail-able for use that day. (In other words, the wizard spell occupies a priestspell slot.) Because of this, magistrati may never cast 8th- or 9th-levelwizard spells. Further, a magistrata may only take wizard spells from asingle school (abjuration, alteration, necromancy, etc.). This school isdetermined when the first wizard spell is requested from Azuth. Fromthat point on, all wizard spells prayed for by that magistrata must be fromthat school and cannot be from any other, with the exception of readmagic, which is always available.

• Magistrati may use magical scrolls in addition to clerical scrolls. Theyneed a read magic spell to do so if the spell is not of the school of magicthey have selected to choose their wizard spells from.

• At 5th level, magistrati can identify (similar to the 1st-level wizard spell)magical items by touch. Use of this ability cannot awaken any curse oritem powers and does not temporarily reduce a magistrata’s Constitutionor require him or her to rest after using the ability. The duration of theidentify ability is five rounds, which may only be used on one item. Anitem may only be identified once by a particular magistrata; another at-tempt cannot be made until the magistrata increases in experience level.

• At 7th level, magistrati have the ability to cast magic missile once a day(similar to the 1st-level wizard spell) as if they were mages of equivalentlevel. This is an ability and does not conflict with their restriction toonly one school of wizard spells.

• At 9th level, magistrati have the ability to cast fireball or lightning boltonce a day (similar to the 3rd-level wizard spells) as if they were mages ofequivalent level. This is an ability and does not conflict with their re-striction to only one school of wizard spells.

• At 12th level, magistrati have the ability to create a wall similar to anywall spell (wall of fire, wall of ice, wall of force, wall of iron, wall of stone,etc.) once a day as if they were mages of equivalent level. This is an abil-ity and does not conflict with their restriction to only one school of wiz-ard spells.

Azuthan SpellsAll of these spells, available to priests and wizards in Azuth’s clergy, areboth wizard and priest spells; they work identically for either class, with the

exception of their casting times. The casting times for the wizard versionsare noted in parentheses next to the priestly casting time. This priestly cast-ing time does not incorporate the reduction in casting time that Azuthanpriests gain. The wizard spells have been written down in church spelltomes for the use of wizards of the clergy. Azuth prevents them from fallinginto the hands of those not of the faith by this simple expedient: Thesespells cannot be seen by nonclergy wizards. They are not magically hiddenor detectable only with special abilities; they are simply not there for any-one who is not a clergy member, and if such people gaze upon a page wherethey are written, all that is seen is blank vellum.

4th LevelAzuth�s Fedensor (Alteration)Sphere: ThoughtRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: Up to 1 turnCasting Time: 7 (4)Area of Effect: One beingSav ing Throw: NoneThis spell allows the next 1st- through 5th-level spell cast by the caster ofAzuth’s fedensor or another touched spellcasting being to be unleashedwithout any normally necessary material components (unless crucial to aspell, such as the gem used in a magic jar spell) and without being forgotten.The affected spell is not erased from memory and can be cast again as nor-mal at a later time. The spell to be effected must be cast within a turn of thecasting of Azuth’s fedensor, or the fedensor is lost and wasted. Azuth’s feden-sor does not work on Azuth’s fedensor; such a use results in the loss of bothfedensors.

5th LevelAzuth�s Exalted Triad (Alteration)Sphere: ThoughtRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 8 (5)Area of Effect: The casterSav ing Throw: NoneThis magic can affect any one 1st through 5th-level spell that the caster ofthe exalted triad already has in memory. Once this spell is chosen by silentwill of the caster, the triad cannot be shifted to another spell. The chosenspell becomes castable thrice without any additional memorization, loss ofother memorized spells, or loss of spell memorization slots.

The first use of the spell chosen to be affected by Azuth’s exalted triad iscast as normal in all respects, but the second and third castings of the chosenspell require no material or verbal components and their casting timechanges to 2.

An exalted triad spell cannot affect another exalted triad spell in memory.Only one exalted triad spell may be in use on a given spell slot at a time; anyattempt to use multiple exalted triad spells on a given spell in memory resultsin the spellcaster being feebleminded. Azuth’s fedensor may not be used onAzuth’s exalted triad or on any spell affected by Azuth’s exalted triad.

No more than two exalted triad spells may be in use (on different spells inmemory) at a time. The extra “copied” spells gamed by use of an exalted triadall take up the same spell slot; that spell slot is considered in use until all thecopies created by the exalted triad are used or discarded from memory tomake way for new spells, at which tune the exalted triad ends.

7th LevelAzuth�s Spell Shield (Abjuration)Sphere: ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 roundCasting Time: 1 round (7)Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneThis spell renders the caster or a touched spell recipient immune to all mag-ical effects on the round after this spell is cast. This immunity includes animmunity to previously applied protections and aids and ongoing effects.The spell does not prevent such magics from operating; it simply preventsthe protected being from being affected in any way by them for one round.

Destroy Magedoom (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Summoning, ProtectionRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: InstantaneousCasting Time: 1 round (7)Area of Effect: One magedoomSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell was recently developed by the church of Azuth in response to thecreation of a mage-killing horror known as a magedoom by the powerful wiz-ards of the Zhentarim. (See the Ruins of Zhentil Keep boxed set for details onthis monster.) Azuth only grants this special spell to high-level specialtypriests and wizards who serve him well. The spell is unaffected by a mage-doom’s 100% magic resistance.

This spell has no effect on any creature except a magedoom. When caston a magedoom, the magedoom must succeed at a saving throw vs. spell orbe destroyed. If the saving throw is successful, the magedoom takes 10d8points of damage. The damage may destroy the magedoom anyway.

The material components for this spell are a holy symbol of Azuth, whichis not consumed in the casting, and a magical item, which is consumed in thecasting. Unique items, artifacts, and relics (as adjudicated by the DM) can-not be used as components of this spell.

Bane (Dead)(The Black Lord, Lord Bane, the Lord of Darknessthe Black Hand, The Dark One)Greater Power of Acheron, LFPORTFOLIO: Strife, hatred, tyrannyALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Formerly: Avalas/The Black Bastion; currently adrift in

the Astral PlaneSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Bhaal (now dead), Iyachtu Xvim, Loviatar, Talona,

Myrkul (now dead), Malar, MaskFOES: Chauntea , E lda th , La thander , Mys t ra , Ty r , He lm,

Deneir, Torm, Ilmater, Tymora, Lliira, OghmaSYMBOL: An upright black hand, palm out and fingers together,

usually on a red fieldWOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE

Bane (BAIN), one of the Dark Gods, was the ulti-mate tyrant and a thoroughly evil and maliciousbeing who reveled in hatred and strife and was wor-shiped by those who in turn enjoyed such wicked-ness. From his throne in the Black Bastion, he ruledover select parts of Faerûn through his clergy. In reli-gious art, he was depicted as a looming, broodingblack hand ready to crush the world in its palm, as an

empty black throne, or as a shadowy, vaguely human-shaped figure garbed ingarments of black streaked with red sitting on a throne of skulls. The oneconstant in these depictions was a jewel-encrusted gauntlet streaked withblood.

While Bane hated most of the Faerûnian pantheon, in particular hehated Mystra and dreamed of torturing her and consuming her power. Hedevoted much research to trying to learn ways in which other gods have inthe past subsumed the powers of rival gods whom they destroyed, for Banedesired above all to gain true supreme power by acquiring governance overall magic. This may have been the underlying reason that Bane plotted withMyrkul to steal the Tablets of Fate from Ao, precipitating the Fall of theGods. The Black Lord was destroyed in conflict with Torm during the Timeof Troubles, and his portfolio was given to the once-mortal Cyric by Ao,along with the portfolios of Myrkul and Bhaal. In life, he commanded Bhaaland Iyachtu Xvim, his son, though Xvim performed his designated tasks onlyreluctantly, as he held no love for his father. Loviatar and Talona servedBane indirectly by serving Bhaal.

Iyachtu Xvim, the Godson, is said to be the result of a union between theBlack Lord and a greater or a true tanar’ri, and thus the blood of Bane runsthrough his veins. (Another tale says he is the spawn of the Lord of Darknessand a corrupted paladin.) Prior to the Time of Troubles, Xvim stalked theRealms for many years, enacting his father’s will. With his father’s death andCyric’s partial defeat, the Cruel Master has moved to seize his hated father’sblack throne. If any remaining cultists of Bane ever seek the return of theDark One, such efforts will certainly be opposed by Xvim, the New Darkness.

Although much of Bane’s power was absorbed by Cyric, the Prince ofLies, when the Black Lord was destroyed by Torm, the Lord of Duty, some ofit passed on to Iyachtu Xvim, imprisoned deep beneath Zhentil Keep. As isthe case with Myrkul, a small fraction of Bane’s essence remains in theRealms, but unlike the deceased deity of the dead, Bane’s personality wasnot captured in an artifact. Instead, fragments of his personality were scat-tered among his 25 or more surviving Baneliches (clerical liches of Bane). Incenturies past, the Black Lord had transformed over 35 living High Imper-ceptors at the end of their tenure into undead “Mouths of Bane”—Baneliches. In the wake of the Godswar, each Banelich now believes itself tobe the reincarnated form of Bane, with the expected corresponding megalo-maniacal plans for conquering Faerûn. They are also the only known beingsin the Realms to either still receive spells from Bane and/or grant themselvesclerical spell-like abilities without a living divine patron.

Bane�s Avatar (Cleric 36, Fighter 35, Mage 30, Thief 10)Bane preferred never to be seen in person and hence almost never sent a pureavatar to the Realms. He did possess mortals from time to time to serve as hisersatz avatars, preferring young and good-looking men of slim build, culturedtastes, wealth, and power—often bored young noblemen. Any person Banepossessed quickly assumed the appearance of a handsome, black-haired manof oily looks and a derisive, even cruel, manner. Bane’s control over a bodywas complete, though the owner retained awareness of the body’s deeds andsurroundings. Often the person whose body Bane inhabited went mad watch-ing Bane ruin the lives of those around him and all he held dear.

Bane could cast spells from any sphere or school, but could not mend orcreate anything material or living. He could raise recently slain beings, how-ever, and evoke solid but temporary spell effects such as the whirling bladesof a blade barrier.

AC -6; MV 12; HP 233; THAC0 -10; #AT 1 or 2Dmg 1d10+9 (+9 STR) or 1d12+9/1d12+9 (talons, +9 STR)MR 75%, SZ L (10 feet)STR 21, DEX 20, CON 23, INT 23, WIS 19, CHA 23Spells P: 14/13/13/12/10/10/10, W: 5/5/5/5/5/4/4/4/2Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Although he could wield any weapon with proficiency(but was specialized in none—that level of proficiency was denied him byTempus because of a past attempt to seize the portfolio of war), Bane pre-ferred to attack with his slim, gauntleted right hand once per round. Upon asuccessful attack, in addition to normal damage, a victim had to make a suc-cessful saving throw vs. death magic or be instantly slain.

When enraged or expecting battle, Bane used a power similar to thepsionic devotion body weaponry to adapt his possessed body into any formdesired. The Black Lord often warped his hands into talons capable of rend-ing flesh and bone or shattering steel. (In this form he could strike with bothhands, but could not cause instant death, only physical damage.) This trans-formation was typically accompanied by his face warping into a bestial vis-age, his eyes lighting with living flame, and his skin transforming into black-ened and charred leather stretched tight against his skull with torn flaps of itrevealing secret runes.

In addition to seizing access to any powers and skills possessed by thebody, Bane’s mind rendered that of his possessed host unreachable by psion-ics. He conferred upon the body personal powers similar to the psionic de-votions of body control and body equilibrium. These powers essentially en-abled him to make the body stand on any surface and survive in any envi-ronment.

Bane was able to seize another host body of evil or neutral alignment bytouching it continuously for one round with part of the (probably deci-mated) form of a previous host. He thus acquired a new physical host fairlyeasily when one body “wore out” due to the harsh use he put it to.

Other ManifestationsBane often manifested as eyes of red blazing flame surrounded by darkness,whether it was night or not. Another favored form was that of a black,taloned hand whose touch was like ice (and was, in fact, a chill touch) reach-ing out of a cloud of darkness. In either manifestation, Bane retained themighty magical powers of his avatar form, including the ability to cause in-stant death (unless a successful saving throw vs. death magic is made) bytouch or glance at will. He delighted above all in manipulating mortalsthrough their fear of him, and his every word and deed acted to further suchinfluence. He lashed out without qualm when necessary—but only when ab-solutely necessary, preferring not to use brute force when he need not. Baneenforced his will, gave aid to his faithful, or showed his favor through a vari-

n ages past there was but one god of strife, death, and the dead, and he wasknown as Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything. Jergal fomented and fed onthe discord among mortals and powers alike When beings slew each other in

their quest for power or in their hatred, he welcomed them into his shadowy

Knucklebones, Skull Bowling,and the Empty Throne

Ikingdom of eternal gloom. As all things died. everything came to him eventually,and over time he built his power into a kingdom unchallenged by any other god.But he grew tired of his duties for he knew them too well, and without chal-lenge there is nothing, and in nothingness there is onlythe difference between absolute power and absolutetectable.

gloom. In such a state,powerlessness IS unde-

During this dark era, there arose three powerful mortals—Bane, Bhaal, andMyrkul—who lusted after the power Jergal wielded. The trio forged an unholypact that they would dare to seek such ultimate power or die in the attempt.Over the length and breadth of the Realms they strode, seeking powerfulmagic and spells and defying death at every turn. No matter what monsterthey confronted or what spells they braved, the three mortals emerged un-scathed at every turn. Eventually the trio destroyed one of the Seven LostGods, and they each seized a portion of his divine essence for themselves.

The trio then journeyed into the Gray Waste and sought out the Castle ofBone. Through armies of skeletons, legions of zombies, hordes of noncorporealundead, and a gauntlet of liches they battled. Eventually they reached the ob-ject of their lifelong quest—the Bone Throne

“I claim this throne of evil,” shouted Bane the tyrant“I’ll destroy you before you can raise a finger,” threatened Bhaal the assassin.“And I shall imprison your essence for eternity,” promised Myrkul the necro-

mancer.Jergal arose from his throne with a weary expression and said, “The Throne is

yours. I have grown weary of this empty power. Take it if you wish—l promiseto serve and guide you as your seneschal until you grow comfortable with theposition.” But before the stunned trio could react, the Lord of the Dead con-tinued, “Who among you shall rule?”

The trio immediately fell to fighting amongst themselves while Jergal lookedon with indifference. When eventually it appeared that either they would alldie of exhaustion or battle on for an eternity, the Lord of the End of Every-thing intervened.

“After all you have sacrificed, would you come away with nothing? Whydon’t you divide the portfolios of the office and engage in a game of skill forthem?” asked Jergal.

Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul considered the god’s offer and agreed. So Jergaltook the skulls of his three most powerful liches and gave them to the trio sothey could compete by skull bowling. Each mortal rolled a skull across the GrayWaste, having agreed that the winner would be he who bowled the farthest.

Malar the Beastlord arrived to visit Jergal at this moment. After quickly as-certaining that the winner of the contest would get all of Jergal’s power, hechased off after the three skulls to make sure that the contest would behalted until he had a chance to participate for part of the prize. Bane, Bhaal,and Myrkul again fell to fightingas it was obvious their sport was ruined, butagain Jergal intervened. “Why don’t you allow Lady Luck to decide so you don’thave to share with the Beast?”

The trio agreed, and Jergal broke off his skeletal finger bones and gave themto the players. When Malar returned from chasing the skulls, he found that thetrio had just finished a game of knucklebones.

Bane cried out triumphantly, “As winner, I choose to rule for all eternity asthe ultimate tyrant. I can induce hatred and strife at my whim, and all will bowdown before me while in my kingdom.”

Myrkul, who had won second place, declared, “But I choose the dead, andby doing so I truly win, because all you are lord over, Bane, will eventually bemine. All things must die—even gods.”

Bhaal, who finished third, demurred, “I choose death, and it is by my handthat all that you rule Lord Bane will eventually pass to Lord Myrkul. Both of youmust pay honor to me and obey my wishes, since I can destroy your kingdom,Bane, by murdering your subjects, and I can starve your kingdom, Myrkul bystaying my hand.”

Malar growled in frustration, but could do nothing, and yet again only thebeasts were left for him.

And Jergal merely smiled, for he had been delivered.

cused around the High Imperceptor, who has lived in hiding since the deathof Bane. It is undoubtedly only a short time until these scant few convert tothe worship of another power.

The High Imperceptor was in theory the supreme living servant ofBane (numerous former High Imperceptors survive as Baneliches) and wasformerly directly recognized as such by Bane, but in practice this declaredleadership was often not the actual case. well before the Time of Troubles,Fzoul Chembryl of Zhentil Keep led a powerful faction of the church intoschism. He then assumed complete authority of the splinter branch�anact whose temerity Bane rewarded by possessing Fzoul directly when theFall of the Gods came down upon Faerûn. There have been other rebelleaders in the church of Bane, such as the Risen Cult of Bane, the Ortho-dox Church of Bane, the True Church of Bane, the Old Church of Bane,and so on. Bane suffered such strife to continue down the years because itbrought eager service beyond the call of duty and because he delighted inthe strife itself.

Specialty priests of Bane were known as dreadmasters, a term used re-gardless of the gender of its owner. About 10% of the total priesthood of thechurch of Bane was comprised of dreadmasters and most were kept in low-level positions. Some specialty priests of Bane operated outside the rigidchurch hierarchy; they were mainly adventurers and hermits seeking to cre-ate their own power base to eventually destroy the others.

Novices of Bane's clergy were addressed as �slave,� but if named by Banefrom a speaking altar or in a dream vision, they became full priests of the godand gained the title of Watchful Brother/Watchful Sister. From there, theyascended through the following rankings: Deadly Adept, Trusted Servant,Willing Whip, Hooded Menace, Black Fang, Striking Hand, Vigilant Talon,Masked Death, Dark Doom, Higher Doom, and deep Mystery. This lattertitle was a general one held by all clergy members of 12th and greater level.A priest of this rank addressed fellow clergy members of higher ranks or lev-els as �Deeper Mystery� (not to do so was regarded as a deliberate insult).

Bane was the most widely known and feared evil god of the Realms. Ban-ites were generally cruel folk who enjoyed exercising power over otherswithin the security of a rigid hierarchy and rules. While Bane is dead, hischurch lives on, though most of its members have now joined the churchesof Cyric, Iyachtu Xvim, or even Gargauth, Talos, or Talona since the re-maining Banites are not, as of 1369 DR, receiving spells or abilities fromBane or from Cyric (unless they convert directly to his worship�at whichpoint they are no longer Banites).

The church of Bane was overrun with wizards, especially near ZhentilKeep. The presence of so many wizards as clergy members and the influenceof the ambitious Fzoul Chembryl led to a schism in the church long beforethe Time of Troubles. This created a fierce internal rivalry within the churchbetween the Orthodox (mostly clerical) and Transformed (more heavilywizardly) factions of the church.

Bane�s church underwent several rapid changes after the death of its deityduring the Time of Troubles. In the immediate aftermath of the Time ofTroubles, the rift between Orthodox and Transformed Banites worsened.Cyric assumed Bane�s portfolio, continued to grant Banite priests spells, andtried to convert Bane�s faithful to direct worship of him. Orthodox Banitesheld that Cyric was merely a new form of Bane, expanded to take in thepowers of Myrkul and Bhaal to show the growing power of evil. TransformedBanites instead argued that Bane was dead and Cyric had taken his mantleand position as deity of strife. The �office� of Bane that Cyric held was thepower they worshiped. Along with almost all former Bhaal-worshipers andthe vast majority of former Myrkulytes, these Banite factions formed thestrong base of Cyric�s faith.

There remained scattered sects of hardcore ultra-orthodox Bane wor-shipers, such as the Risen Cult of Bane in the Moonshaes, who believed thatBane was still alive and that Cyric, whom they referred to as the Pretender,was a usurper who would be punished in the future along with all his faith-less followers. Little did these stubborn, misguided fools realize that thePrince of Lies was granting the spells and special abilities of all Banites,whether they recognized him as Bane or Cyric, because he could not resistthe chance to prevaricate in such a broad way and because he hoped toeventually lure the stubborn holdouts to his cause.

Three years after the Godswar, Bane�s priests had converted almost en-tirely to Cyricism, though many still stubbornly worshiped Cyric as the newBane. Cyric lost patience with the remaining priests of Bane, particularlythe greatest holdouts in the Moonsea region, and unleashed an inquisitionknown as the Banedeath in Zhentil Keep (and later across the rest ofFaerûn). Tendays of rampage ensued wherein all temples and obvious wor-ship sites of the old dead god were destroyed. The Banedeath resulted in thedeath of most of Bane�s remaining priests in Zhentil Keep, but Banite wor-ship persisted marginally throughout Faerûn, albeit now wholly under-ground, both figuratively and literally. Cyric continued to grant spells andspecial abilities to the few remaining Banites during this time for reasonsknown only to him. One small group from Zhentil Keep began seeking thereturn of Iyachtu Xvim, the Godson, to succeed his late father rather thanconverting to Cyricism.

Seven years after the Banedeath, Cyric destroyed Zhentil Keep. At theend of 1368 DR, some Cyric worshipers converted to the worship of thenewly empowered Iyachtu Xvim, the Godson, who had managed to estab-lish a base in Gehenna. One of the leading Banite priests who converted toCyricism, Fzoul Chembryl, apparently deserted Cyric to encourage (and per-haps lead) Iyachtu Xvim�s rising faith. Surviving members of the Risen Cultof Bane view the Godson as Bane reborn. A few isolated pockets of trueBanites still exist, but they receive no spells or abilities and are mainly fo-

ety of servitor creatures ass well, including baatezu (of all lesser and least va-rieties), beholders and their kin, black dragons, death tyrants (undead eyetyrants, the remains of, beholders who rebelled against Bane or failed him),imps, maelephants, banelar, simpathetics, and all manner of creature pos-sessed by pride incarnates (a type of extraplanar creature). The Black Lordsometimes showed his presence through the imprint of a giant footprintfrom a mailed boot beneath which the very earth was charred. The discov-ery of a single black sapphire or the presence of red powder (often powderedcarnelian) was said to indicate Bane's approval or disapproval, respectively.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, wizards, crusadersCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, W: No, Cru: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, W No, Cru: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and crusaders of Bane received religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Known individual titles among the Banites of Deeper Mystery included Vig-ilator, Lord/Lady of Mysteries, Lord/Lady of the Hand, Imperceptor, DarkImperceptor, Grand Bloodletter, High Inquisitor, and High Imperceptor. Allexcept the last title were self-bestowed, but such self-given titles had to beconfirmed and used upon the bestower by a higher ranking priest before they

rank, whereupon �Dread Brother/Sister� would be used.

were formally recognized.Banites addressed each other only by title unless the mix of individuals

present would cause confusion without the addition of a surname. Baniteclergy bowed, knelt to, or kissed the boots of superiors, depending on the dif-ference in their ranks�and what they were ordered to do. When in thepresence of nonworshipers of Bane, Banite clergy addressed each other as�Brother/Sister Faithful� unless speaking to a superior of considerably greater

to �spread the Dark Fear� of Bane.

Priests of Bane prided themselves on cold, decisive thought, speech, andaction. Sarcasm and cutting authority were valued over shouting, loss oftemper, or uncontrolled behavior. Two priests arguing to the death may wellhave appeared as softly polite but insistent noblemen debating some minorpoint right up to the last moments of one (or both) of their lives.

Dogma: The clergy members of Bane�s church believed that those whocrossed the Dark One met their dooms earlier and more harshly than thosewho foolishly worshiped other deities than Bane and still inevitably fell be-fore the church of Bane. All priests of Bane were ordered to submit to theword of Bane as uttered by Banite clergy members who outranked them and

Bane whispered to initiates in their dreams: �Serve no one but me. Fearme always�and make others fear me even more than you do. The BlackHand always strikes down those who stand against it in the end. Defy meand die�or in your death find loyalty, for I shall compel it. Submit to mywill, since true power can only be gained through service to me. It is thedoom of those unguided by me to let power spill through their hands.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Bane desired to rule the world so that allFaerûn would know his tyranny. His clergy members were charged with thetask of rising to power in every realm and if necessary leading a band, city-state, or kingdom to war to conquer its neighbors in order to bring evermore territory under the sway of the Black Hand of Bane. Hatred, strife,and destruction were to be spread�but under clear duress and control, notunbridled chaos. Domination was preferred to debauchery, and carefullylimited discord to stability. Cruelty, torture, and mayhem were tacitly en-couraged, but those caught at such activities had to pay the price unlessthey had served Bane so well by spreading fear that none dared speak or actagainst them. Superior Banite clergy members had to be obeyed at all timesand in all things. The faithful were to work subtly and patiently�but tire-lessly�to bring members of the faith to power in every guild, village, town,

Failure to satisfy the Lord Knight's inquisition results in the death of the ap-plicant and the creation of another helmed horror via the doom of Bane spell.

With Mintar firmly in his grip, it is believed that the Lord Knight Imper-ceptor has his eye on chaotic Tethyr. He began mustering his forces towardan invasion of Kzelter at the end of the Year of the Gauntlet (1369 DR). It isunknown what dark patron is granting the Knights of the Black Gauntlettheir spells, but members of the order are firmly convinced it is Bane re-born�which leads those outside the faith to lean heavily toward layingtheir bets on Iyachtu Xvim.

Priestly Vestments: Banite clergy members always went armed andwere required to always wear something black. Ceremonial dress for Banitepriests was black armor with blood-red capes, The more prosperous thepriest, the finer the workmanship of the armor was. The ceremonial robes ofwizards of the clergy were always black; wizard clergy members of the highestranks enspelled these robes to swirl with ever-present illusions of glitteringblack stars and splashes of spilling blood. Facial tattoos were commonamong Banites. After the Time of Troubles, these unfortunately made themstand out among clear-faced new Cyricists within the ranks of Cyric�s faith-ful. High-level Banites wore gems on their foreheads.

Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, priests of Bane retained theirblack armor, though their battle armor usually sported cruel spurs, hooks,and horns. Wizardly clergy members preferred long, flowing, black-and-redrobes. Neither group would wear such gear in public if it would expose themto persecution or hamper their service to their deity. Usually, the facial tat-toos of Banites were enough to identify them.

Specialty Priests (Dreadmasters)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 12, Wisdom 10PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : L E

court, war band, fellowship, realm, and society. All rules of the church hadto be followed to the utmost, but the rules of others were no rules at all.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: No rituals of Bane correspondedto calendar dates, seasons, or lunar progressions. Rituals were held wheneverclergy leading a congregation declared they would be, and these ceremonieswere called by a wide variety of names. Personal prayers to Bane were to beuttered before going into battle and before eating or drinking anything tothank Bane for allowing his worshiper to live to taste the fare.

Rituals were held in a place of darkness (often simply outdoors atnight) lit only by dim magical radiances, moonlight, and flickering torchesor braziers. Usually dark chambers, caverns, and ruins were used. The wor-shipers gathered around the Black Altar, which was a plain stone blockdraped with black cloth or painted black, a block of obsidian, or anythingover which a large, floating, black stone Hand of Bane hovered (levitatedthere by a wizard clergy member or a magical item used by a priest orthrough magic of its own). If no Hand of Bane was present, an empty blackthrone was always placed facing the Black Altar. Services in such evilchurches involved rolling drums, chanting, and sometimes singing�andthe sacrifice of intelligent life. Sacrifices had to be humiliated, tortured,and made to show fear before dying to be acceptable to Bane, and theyusually met their deaths through slashing, flogging, or being crushed bythe floating Hand of Bane.

Major Centers of Worship: The largest and most powerful temple ofBane was not located in Zhentil Keep, nor was it the court of the High Im-perceptor at the Black Lord�s Altar in Mulmaster (though that is usuallyconsidered the center of the faith). The largest temple of Bane in all Faerûnis the Black Lord�s Cloak in the city of Mourktar on the edge of the flat,sandy plains of Threskel. It has been said (accurately) that only the presenceof this temple, which grew to rule the entire city following the death of KingTheris and the subsequent assassination of his successor, prevented the moreambitious Red Wizards of Thay from abandoning all plans to assault Rashe- WEAPONS: All nonmissile bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsmen and instead establishing a beachhead in Threskel from which to attackdecadent Unther and fractious Chessenta.

and javelinsARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERESS: All, combat, divination, elemental, guardian, healing,

law, necromantic, summoning, warMINOR SPHERES: Creation, numbers, sun (darkness-creating or detrimen-

tal effects only)MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: EtiquetteBONUS PROFS: Modern languages (pick two from: beholder, bugbear,

gargoyle, common giant, gnoll, goblin, High Shou,kobold, kuo-toan, Midani, minotaur, Mulhorandi, ogre,orc, sahuagin, Undercommon, Untheric, urd, yuan-ti)

Imperceptor Kabarrath Telthaug styled himself Dread Imperceptor in thedays before the Time of Troubles, asserting his own independence of thestandard Banite hierarchy. It is not hard to understand why: He commandsover 700 Banite priests of rank, another 1,000 lesser clergy members, and awell-equipped, harshly disciplined army of loyal troops armed with manyitems of minor magic, and well practiced in slaughter. This army has beenforce-marched west to ravage cities in Chessenta time and time again onlyto pull back when the exercises are over.

The temple is named for its only relic, an animated black cloak onceworn by Bane himself that became a sentient monster that envelops peoplefrom time to time and sucks them dry of all blood. The Black Lord�s Cloaktemple complex has grown into a vast palace where Kabarrath keeps thewealth of subject Threskel and its fleet of merchant and fishing vessels. Thewidely feared pirate fleet of Alkoth is said to have secretly served the priestsof the Cloak, and it is certain that the adventuring bands the Six BlackBlades and the Crow Banners (active in Murghom, Mulhorand, and Var)�and probably other tomb-robbing organizations as well�were agents sentforth from Threskel to gather magic, wealth, and less glamorous supplies forKabarrath�s temple and the greater glory of Bane.

With the destruction of the Untheric pantheon, Imperceptor Kabarrathperceives a power vacuum in which he can seize control of that ancient na-tion. It is unclear which deity supports this powerful temple that still main-tains its nominal dedication to Bane in the aftermath of the Time of Trou-bles. The incipient madness which has touched Kabarrath in recent yearssuggests the hand of Cyric, but the recent change in battle color in the armyfrom red and black to green and black suggests that of Xvim.

Affiliated Orders: The Knights of the Black Gauntlet are a militaryorder of crusaders and helmed horrors dedicated to Bane who are based inthe city of Mintar on the shores of the Lake of Steam. This evil brotherhoodis ruled with an iron fist by Teldorn Darkhope, Lord Knight Imperceptor ofthe Dark Lord. It was founded several years after Bane�s destruction when aghostly black hand appeared in the ruling Mintaran satrap�s throne room onMidwinter�s Eve in the Year of the Helm (1362 DR). Teldorn emerged fromthe hand with a small company of black knights and quickly slew the indo-lent slug of a ruler and his guards.

After declaring himself Dark Tyrant of Mintar and wiping out all resis-tance to his rule, Teldorn began recruiting mercenaries from all over theSouth into his unholy knighthood. Whatever their personalities before join-ing the order, following Teldorn�s indoctrination each accepted supplicant istransformed into an incorruptible champion of evil and an uncompromisingdisciple of order in a ritual involving dark promise spells and other magics.

� Dreadmasters are unaffected by fear spells, though they may be affectedby other emotion-affecting spells and spell-like abilities.

� In the hands of a dreadmaster, rods of terror, rods of rulership and wands offear work to increased effect.

When a dreadmaster expends a charge from a rod of terror, she or he isenveloped by an illusion of darkest horror affecting all within 60 feet;those who successfully save against the effects of the terror suffer a -2penalty to their morales; and the dreadmaster never loses any Charismafrom the use of the rod.

In the hands of a dreadmaster, a rod of rulership works on 2d4+2x100Hit Dice of creatures within 240 yards per charge, and a charge lasts forthree turns. Saving throws vs. the rod of rulership�s effects (when applica-ble) are at a -2 penalty.

Finally, when a dreadmaster expends a charge from a wand of ear,saving throws vs. the effect of the wand are at a -2 penalty and thosewho fail their saving throws are affected for 12 rounds.

� At 5th-level, dreadmasters are abler to generate an aura of fear 10 feet inradius for every level of the dreadmaster. Every creature within the areawhich fails its saving throw tries to escape the area (70%) or attack thesource of the fear (30%); the DM may modify these chances based onthe situation. Those who succeed in their saving throw vs. spell or areunable to escape are affected by ill ease and greatly desire to be some-where else, but incur no modification to their attack or damage rolls.This aura of fear can be created once per day at will. It lasts one roundper level of the dreadmaster. It is often used when questioning suspectsor bullying less powerful individuals. All clergy members of Bane'schurch are immune to this effect.

� At 7th level, dreadmasters have the ability to dispel good (as the reverseof the 5th-level priest spell dispel evil) once a day.

� At 10th level, dreadmasters have the ability to create a mystic lash (as the5th-level priest spell) once a day.

Banite Spells

4th LevelThe Doom of Bane (Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One suit of armor and one set of mortal remainsSaving Throw: NoneThis spell transforms the corpse or partial remains of a single uprightbipedal creature of any race into the animate force of a helmed horror. Thehorror rises from the remains three rounds after spellcasting is complete,entering its armor. If armor is not present, the horror dissipates, and thespell is wasted.

The caster or another being must wear the armor as the horror enters it, aprocess described as “unbearably chilling.” This often causes the armorwearer to faint. The horror gains its knowledge of how to fill the armor andsomething of its independent reasoning from the armor wearer, who need notbe of the proper class to use the armor. Once the horror has entered thearmor, the armor should be removed, since within one turn it animates as afully functional helmed horror. Details of a helmed horror are given in theFORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting box in the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM®sheets and in the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Annual, Volume One.

The remains need not be whole and are consumed in the casting, butthey must be the remains of a creature that was of evil alignment for at leastpart of its life or the spell has no effect. The doom of Bane destroys the re-mains forever, preventing resurrection, animation as an undead creature,speak with dead, and similar activities from affecting them. A helmed horroris not regarded as an undead creature, however. It cannot be turned, af-fected, or dispelled by holy beings or things.

The material components of this spell are a pinch of bone powder or abone shard of any origin, a pinch of dust, and a fairly complete, nonmagi-cal, nonaligned suit of metal armor, which serves as the body of the helmedhorror.

5th LevelDark Promise (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: Charm, NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: Neg.The dark promise spell was used exclusively by priests of Bane centuries agoto make sure their hidden cults, temples, and covert members were pro-tected from the bias of the general populace. As Bane’s power grew to apoint where Banites were no longer hunted, the spell was no longer needed,and its use has since dwindled away.

When the spell is cast, a set of circumstances are set in motion that tar-gets of the spell must follow to the letter (a promise, of sorts, with stipula-tions). The dark promise must have Bane’s interests at heart and cannot besuicidal in nature. Dark promises such as “Never eat,” “Never breathe,” and“Never wear armor” do not work. Legitimate dark promises include: “Do notreturn to (name of place)” or “Never again attack a priest of Bane.”

If the promise is violated, affected spell targets lose 1 hit point per viola-tion of the dark promise until they are dead. Curing and other means of re-covering hit points do not restore damage done by a dark promise spell, andthese hit points are permanently gone (short of a wish spell). The darkpromise can be lifted by the original caster of the spell, a wish spell, or a re-move curse cast by a good priest of higher level than the caster of the darkpromise. If an (unwilling) target of a dark promise spell makes a successfulsaving throw vs. spell when the spell is cast, it has no effect.

Only one dark promise may be in effect on a being at one time. Any suc-cessive dark promise spells cast automatically fail. The main components ofa dark promise spell are the name of the person the spell is to be cast uponand a carefully worded promise statement

Mystic Lash (Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, M

Duration: 1 round/levelC a s t i n g T i m e : 8Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialCasting this spell creates a long whip of ghostly, glowing red force that em-anates from the priest’s hand. With this lash of lightning, the caster can at-tack once per round at a +3 bonus to his or her attack roll. Whenever thislash strikes a being, the caster can release it to attack that being repeatedly,fighting on its own until the spell expires (using the priest’s THAC0). Thecaster can then engage in spellcasting or other activities. If the target of alash dies. falls unconscious. or becomes immobilized, the following round itreturns to the casting priest’s hand. If the casting priest does not grasp it thatround, the spell ends; otherwise, the priest may again attempt to hit a newtarget and then release the mystic lash to once more attack on its own.

A mystic lash does 2d8 pointsof electrical damage per strike.Targets whoare hit by the lash are entitled to a saving throw vs. spell to takehalf damage(round up). The strike of the lash also has a magical effect. If the lash is di-rectly wielded by its caster, that priest mentally chooses the effect from thoselisted below. If the lash is fighting by itself, the effect is chosen at random byrolling 1d6 and consulting the list below.

1d6Roll1

2

3

4

5

6

EffectThe struck victim is stunned (reeling and unable to think coher-ently or to act) for the rest of the current round and the followinground.The struck victim forgets any one spell or command word held inmemory. If none are known or memorized, treat this result as result 1.The struck victim is wracked with pain, takes an additional 1d4points of damage, and any held weapons or other items are dropped.The struck victim is paralyzed. This lasts until the victim makes asuccessful saving throw vs. paralyzation. The victim may first at-tempt a saving throw two rounds after being hit and is entitled toone attempt a round after that until she or he succeeds.The struck victim suffers an additional 2d4 points of damage. In ad-dition, any one metal item or weapon carried or worn by the victimis vaporized; it is instantly and irrevocably disintegrated in a bluecloud of arcing electricity. Magical items are entitled to an item sav-ing throw vs. lightning at a +2 bonus to avoid this effect. Artifactsand relics cannot be harmed by this effect.The mystic lash entwines the struck victim in a helix of lightning,and the being is propelled helplessly 1d4x10 yards in a straight lineaway from the caster, taking an additional 2d6 points of impact dam-age when arriving at the new location (or, if in midair, taking fallingdamage instead). No damage is suffered from the entwining lash.

A mystic lash is destroyed instantly by a successful dispel magic, but cannotbe affected or guarded against as though it were a purely electrical attack.

Its material components are the priest’s holy symbol and a piece of amber.

6th LevelCreate Baneguard (Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialC a s t i n g T i m e : 9Area of Effect: 1 skeletal bodySaving Throw: NoneThe casting of this spell transforms one inanimate skeleton of size M orsmaller into a Baneguard, a skeletal undead creature gifted with a degree ofma l i c ious in te l l i gence . (For in fo rmat ion on Baneguards , see theM ONSTROUS COMPENDIUM sheets included in the revised FORGOTTEN

REALMS Campaign Setting or the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Annual, VolumeOne.) The Baneguard is capable of using its abilities the round following cre-ation and needs no special commands to attack.

The material components of this spell are the holy symbol of the priestand at least 20 drops of the blood of any sort of true dragon.

Spirit Annihilation (Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: Permanent

Casting Time: 3 roundsArea of Effect: One barely living or recently deceased sentient beingSaving Throw: Neg.Spirit annihilation was used by the clerics of Bane centuries ago to negate theoperation of spells used to retrieve information from the Banites’ victims,such as speak with dead. The only place to currently find this spell is on an-cient scrolls hidden deep within old Banite haunts.

By use of this spell, the caster completely annihilates the victim’s spirit,utterly wiping him, her, or it from existence. The victim’s spirit cannot findrest in the Outer Planes, and indeed it never even reaches them. The spiritis caught up by the force of the spell and utterly shattered, or its energy is di-verted to some foul use (such as to power a particularly monstrous spell of gi-gantic complexity).

This spell is usable only on victims who are about to die (0 hp) or whohave died (below 0 hp, or below -10 hp if that optional rule is in use) withinone round per level of the caster. The victim receives a saving throw vs.spell, which negates the effect if the saving throw is successful. Victims whofail their saving throws not only cannot be spoken with using speak with deadspells, but also cannot be resurrected, raised, or reincarnated, though thebody of the victim may be animated as a mindless undead creature.

Undeath After Death (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 turnArea of Effect: One BaniteSaving Throw: NoneThis spell is a closely guarded secret within the upper ranks of the church ofBane, and its use disappeared with the death of Bane. Undeath after death iscast on worshipers of Bane upon the moments of their deaths, transformingthem into different forms of undead. Which form of undead a Banite be-comes depends on his or her level of experience in life. The more powerfulthe Banite was in life, the stronger the type of undead. Vampires created bythis spell retain character abilities. (If the DM chooses to use the optionalrules presented for mummies in Van Richten’s Guide to the Ancient Dead,mummies created by this spell retain character abilities, also.) The level ofthe caster must be higher than the level of the spell’s recipient, or the castermust make a saving throw vs. death magic or perish in the casting. In such acase, however, the spell still acts normally on the recipient.

This spell is used only on Banite victims who are about to die (0 hp) orwho have died (below 0 hp, or below -10 hp if that optional rule is in use).If the spell is cast upon a Banite after his or her death, it must be cast withinone round per level of the caster after death occurs; otherwise, the spirit ofthe Banite is too far from the body to return and take control. If the casterwaits too long, the spell works as an animate dead spell, creating a mundane,mindless zombie.

Level Type of Undead1st-3rd Ghoul4 th -6 th Ghast7th-9th Ju-Ju zombie10th-13th Wight14th-17th Mummy18th+ Vampire

The material component for this spell is a black obsidian heart intowhich is carved the recipient’s name and the symbol of Bane. This heart isshattered during the ceremony.

7th LevelDeath Symbol of Bane (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: GuardianRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 3Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: Neg.The Risen Cult of Bane uses a special symbol created long ago with the di-rect assistance of the god Bane. Unlike other priestly symbols, the death sym-bol of Bane is extremely long-lasting; it lasts for one discharge per creaturewhose blood is used in its making. The casting of most death symbols of Baneinvolves the sacrifice of at least 30 creatures whose blood is mixed into apaste with ground black opal dust and diamond dust (no less than 5,000 gp

value of each type of dust). (Only three drops of each creature’s blood are re-quired, though Banites usually kill whole creatures and use all their blood.)The symbol is drawn with this grisly paste.

A death symbol of Bane vanishes, once cast, and glows only when acti-vated. It can be detected by magics that allow the reading or detection ofinvisible things or writings. It cannot be activated by any creature bearing aholy symbol of Bane. Typically, it is cast on a door or portal. It is activatedwhen any creature of the types whose blood was used in its creation who isnot carrying a holy symbol of Bane touches the door or attempts to passthrough the portal.

When activated, it explodes outward in destructive, life-draining en-ergy. Any being within 10 feet of the death symbol of Bane must make a suc-cessful saving throw vs. death magic or be slain. (Any being touching thedeath symbol itself, even if using a weapon or tool to do so, saves at a -1penalty.) Any being within 20 feet must make a successful saving throw vs.paralyzation or suffer a chilling withering that causes 1d12 points of dam-age; there is a 30% chance that 1 hit point of such damage is permanentlylost. Any being within 40 feet must make a successful saving throw vs.breath weapon or be wracked by fierce stabbing pains for 2d10 rounds.These cause -2 penalties to victims’ attack rolls as well as a -1 penalty onDexterity ability scores.

These effects are cumulative. A creature touching a death symbol-guarded door or area has to save against all three effects each time the sym-bol is activated.

If a death symbol of Bane is cast upon a surface that is destroyed or brokenbefore the death symbol is exhausted (usually in an attempt to destroy or by-pass the death symbol), the death symbol’s magical energy is instantly releasedin an explosion. This energy blast does 3d8 points of damage to all creatureswithin 10 feet, 2d8 points to all within 11 to 20 feet, 1d8 to all within 21 to30 feet, and 1d4 to all within 31 to 40 feet.

The material component of this spell is the paste (described above) withwhich the symbol is drawn.

Moonveil (Abjuration, Alteration)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 9 roundsArea of Effect: One moonwellSaving Throw: NoneThis complicated evil ritual to magically veil moonwells was recently redis-covered and developed by certain priests of Bane. Moonwells are preciouspools of clear water found in the Moonshae Isles sacred to the goddessChauntea, known as the Goddess (or Earthmother) in the Moonshaes.Some sages and priests believe that this ritual could be modified to sealother existing gates, color pools, and other means of passing between planesor contacting deities.

A moonveil spell is a long ritual involving chanting, dancing about theentire circumference or shore of a moonwell, and the sacrifice of one livingcreature per round. The caster may have up to seven assistants active incarrying out the ritual. If successful, the spell causes a moonwell to lose itsproperties. In addition, any holy water or sweet water potions that arewithin 90 feet of the caster at any time during the ritual are fouled and use-less. The moonwell may be magically purified again, but the other magicalwaters are ruined forever.

A veiled moonwell 15 covered by an opaque black carpet of curling mist,even in full sunlight. This veil blocks all beneficial effects of the moonwell.It also lessens the local influences of the Goddess (Chauntea), preventingher from awakening or, if already active, from accurately directing her land-dwelling children, Kamerynn the unicorn and the Pack, against evil.

Contact with the black mist forces items to make saving throws vs. acidwith a -2 penalty or be destroyed and living beings to make saving throwsvs. poison with a -2 penalty or suffer 3d4 points of corrosive damage perround of contact. If a being dives, falls, or is otherwise immersed in thepool, 6d4 points of damage automatically are inflicted for each round ofcontact, and the victim must make a successful saving throw vs. poisoneach round or he blinded. Such blindness lasts for 1d4 turns after the beingwas last in contact with the mist or water.

All spells of 6th level or less directed against the black mist of the wellare reflected back 100% for full effect on the caster. The black mist cannotbe separated into smaller portions, nor can any of it be taken away from thewell; the magic of the spell generates it continuously from the pool itself.

A moonveil can be destroyed by a specially cast variant of the sunray

spell, sanctify sacred site (a 7th-level priest spell of the church of Chauntea).No other means of destroying a moonveil has yet been found. It cannot bereversed or negated by the will of the caster.

The material components of this spell are a piece of burned bone fromany creature native to the Moonshaes, the blood of one living creature perround of the ritual (each creature must be slain during the ritual), a pinch ofdung, a pinch of ashes, a dried snakeskin, and a small vial of liquid poison.

Stone Walk (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Elemental EarthRange: SpecialComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Tune: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSav ing Throw: NoneThis spell is used to link far-flung temples or sacred areas for important andemergency journeys. A stone walk is a special form of teleportation that cir-cumvents all known magical barriers and safeguards against teleportation,including gorgon’s blood, proof against teleportation spells, and so on.

A stone walk involves two stony areas large enough to stand on. Bothmust be prepared with a secret ritual involving crushed gems before thespell itself is cast. Once the stone walk is cast, a being can pass instantly andunerringly from one stone to the other by standing on one and speaking asecret password set during the casting. The two ends of the teleportationmust be on the same plane of existence but may be any distance apart. Thetrip itself is always instantaneous and safe, though the destination itself maybe guarded, trapped, flooded, or the like. The traveler always arrives at theother end; blocking the stone transport site with solid matter merely causesthe traveler to arrive at a nearby open, floored space.

One one-way trip per level of the caster may be made for one being (usu-ally the caster, but not necessarily) and all carried or worn items, accouter-ments, and nonliving items of up to 100 lbs. in additional weight. Livingcreatures who touch the caster may also he transported along with 100 lbs.of gear each, but each creatureplus 100 lbs. of gear uses up one trip. Non-living material of more than 100 lbs. in weight is simply left behind andcannot stone walk without the touch (and accompaniment) of a living crea-ture. Usually, only a single priest makes a trip, and the extra capacity of thespell is left for subsequent trips. Note that the password cannot be changeduntil the spell is exhausted and a new one cast to replace it.

It too many creatures try to come on a stone walk, the spell is exhausted.The caster or whoever speaks the password is f i rst taken and thenwhichever other creatures the magic can accommodate. Extra creaturesand all nonliving material in excess of the spell’s capacity are left behind.

The material component of the preparatory ritual for the end sites of thespell is a paste with which each end of the stone walk is outlined. For eachend, this paste requires four crushed rubies of at least 5,000 gp value each.The ends must be personally prepared by the caster of the stone walk within444 days of the casting of the spell. The ritual of preparation involves thespellcaster bathing, thoroughly washing the stony areas selected, and out-lining these areas with the paste while whispering the future password.

The caster can travel between the two end sites by any form of motiva-tion desired (walking, flying, burrowing, riding a horse, etc.) and can castthe stone walk immediately after the second end is prepared.

The spell itself requires a piece of spider silk at least a foot in length, twointact diamonds of 5,000 gp value or greater, a handful of earth, and a wingfeather of any flying bird.

Beshaba

(The Maid of Misfortune, Black Bess, Lady Doom,the Maid of Misrule, Tyche�s Unpleasant Daughter)Intermediate Power of the Abyss, CEPORTFOLIO: Random mischief, misfortune, bad luck, accidentsALIASES: Shaundakul, the Treacherous Lurker in the Sands

(Anauroch, among the Bedine)DOMAIN NAME: 13th layer/Blood TorSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: NoneFOES: Tymora, ShaundakulSYMBOL: A rack of sharp-pointed black antlers on a red triangular

fieldWOR. ALIGN.: Any, but mainly CN, NE, and CE

Beshaba (Beh-SHAH-ba), the Maid of Misfortune,is a deity feared and placated in Faerûn much morethan she is venerated. When represented, she isshown much like her avatar appears, as a lovelymaiden with snow-white hair, her features twistedby maniacal laughter. In Anauroch, where she pre-tends that she is Shaundakul to perform mischie-

vous and malicious tricks (such as causing oases to dry out, blinding people,and causing travelers to get lost), she appears as a jackal-headed man.Needless to say, this behavior has done much to befoul the reputation ofthe real Shaundakul.

She is known as Tyche’s unpleasant daughter, but this is more a poetictitle than one designating her maternal lineage. In actuality, Tyche was nother mother in the sense of giving birth to Beshaba, rather Beshaba is half ofthe deity once known as Tyche, with Tymora being the other half. It is saidamong sages that when Tyche split to become her two warring “daughters”in the Dawn Cataclysm, Beshaba got the looks, and Tymora all the love.(The Dawn Cataclysm was a war among the gods that preceded the Tune ofTroubles and is said to have heralded the fall of Myth Drannor.) Certainlymany men seem to lose their senses when they meet the gaze of Beshaba, ei-ther being overwhelmed with lust and driven to carry out Beshaba’s everywhim in reckless, slobbering haste or descending into pure gibbering mad-ness on the spot. In women, her gaze is said to inspire mania reflective ofBeshaba’s own inner turmoil or a similar insanity.

Beshaba is spiteful, petty and malicious. While most people tremble infear at Beshaba’s attendance at any event even in spirit, Beshaba is almostalways invited and welcomed formally in the opening speeches or cere-monies of formal functions (such as marriages and coronations), contests ofsport or martial prowess, and at the naming ceremonies of children. If she isnot so invited, she may take offense and wreak endless misfortune uponthose involved. She is difficult to understand as her actions often seem ran-dom, but in the main she is jealous of the favorable opinion people have ofher sister and demands equal veneration (or at least equal lip service) tothat given to Tymora or she will rum the lives who so slight her.

Talos has recently been courting the affections of Beshaba, perhaps withan eye toward eventually controlling misfortune and bad luck along withdestruction. Beshaba has not returned his overtures.

Beshaba�s Avatar (Mage 32, Cleric 25, Fighter 10)Beshaba rarely walks Faerûn in avatar form, but when she does appear, it isas an impossibly tall and thin, yet voluptuously graceful woman whose long,flowing, unbound hair is snow-white and whose face bears the loveliness oflost Tyche—yet her eyes, yellow and red-rimmed, blaze with madness, andher skin shifts slowly and continuously in hue from dead white to mauveand back again. She draws her spells from any school or sphere, but when aspell is reversible, if one of the two forms has a damaging or harmful effect,Beshaba can only cast that form of the spell.

AC -4; MV 15; HP 191; THAC0 4; #AT 3/1*Dmg 1d4+6 or 1d4+3 (large barbed scourge +3 or goad +3, +2 spec. bonus inscourge)MR 70%; SZ H (14 feet)Str 15, Dex 22, Con 21, Int 21, Wis 18, Cha 24Spells P: 11/11/10/10/9/8/4, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Beshaba often attacks with a double-hooked goad +3in one hand and a large barbed scourge +3 in the other, striking twice withthe scourge and once with the goad each round. Her gaze inspires lust,manic behavior, and madness. If a man meets her gaze, he must make a suc-cessful saving throw vs. spell at a -3 penalty or be either charmed as a vam-pire’s charm ability (50% chance) or go insane (50%). Insane victims dropall objects they have in their hands or on their arms and flee in fear to hidebehind a door, in a corner, behind a tree, or even behind one of theirfriends. They then gibber and rave incoherently, taking no offensive ac-tions but trying to avoid blows if they are attacked. Females who meet Be-shaba’s gaze either become manic and behave as berserkers, attacking allaround them, friend or foe, at a +2 bonus to initiative, attack, and damagerolls (50% chance) or become insane (50%) as described above. Theberserk state lasts until a dispel magic is cast on the victim, magic that re-moves charming effects is used on her, or 2turns have passed, at whichpoint the victim collapses, passes out in exhaustion, and awakes behavingnormally but with no memory of her actions.

Once a round, Beshaba can make any attack or spell miss her and backfirefor full damage on its wielder or caster. Beshaba is immune to all illusions,

charm spells and spell-like effects, and powers that would dominate her mindor control her will or emotions. She is also immune to all priest spells fromthe spheres of numbers, thought, chaos, law, and time and all wild magic wiz-ard spells, which when cast in her presence she is automatically able to twistto having wild surges with detrimental or damaging effects on their castersand no beneficial results whatsoever.

bring. They should not falsely advise any being in how to worship Beshaba,or they wi11 pay the price of being cast out and cursed with misfortune all

Other ManifestationsBeshaba prefers to appear as a 12-foot-tall gianthead wreathed in snow-white, swirling hair, with her features twisted intoa sneer of madness as shelaughs maniacally. If she so desires, her cold laughter can have the same ef-fect as a banshee’s wail on individuals whose gaze she manages to meet.Even seeing this manifestation from afar brings down misfortune on all whodo not worship her: For ld4 days such beings suffer a -6 penaltyon all sav-ing throws and ability checks. Beshaba can spit spell effects from her mouthwhen so manifested, but she prefers to work more subtly: When her mani-festation is about stout weapons and walls suddenly give way, freak acci-dents occur, and fell coincidences befall.

their daysDay-to-Day Activities: Beshaba is worshiped largely out of fear, and it

is the task of her clergy to spread that fear by starting talk of Reshaba’spower and latest wickedness and by instructing all in how to make offeringsto her or in how to join her clergy if they would prefer to be protectedagainst all misfortune. Along the way, the members of her priesthood takecare to indulge their tastes for random cruelty and sadism. They enjoy act-ing mysteriously to manipulate simpler folk into serving them in mattersboth great and small, from providing them with food, luxurious shelter, andcompanionship to giving them weapons to wield against their rivals in thechurch of Beshaba and against the clergy of all other faiths.

This head manifestation usually appears only when clergy of Beshabaare active in the vicinity; on other occasions, Beshaba is seen only as agrotesque shadow where no shadow should be, accompanied by faint, far-off, maniacal laughter. Beshaba also acts through the appearance or pres-ence of alu-fiends, bebiliths, bodaks, eyewings, fetches, quasits, rats, cock-roaches, and insane watchghosts (the latter in Anauroch, especially).

The ChurchCL E R G Y: Clerics, specialty priests, mysticsCLERGY ’S ALIGN: C N , N E , C ETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, if neutral, SF’: No, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, if evil, SP: Yes, Mys: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and mystics of Beshaba receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All clergy of Beshabahigher in rank than novices receive Beshaba’s Boon: Her maliciousness willnever be visited upon them personally.

The worship of Beshaba is fairly widespread and varied throughout theRealms. Her followers prefer to keep a low profile even in those citieswhich profess tolerance and those towns which actively support evil reli-gions. As a rule of thumb, if Tymora can be found in the area, then Beshabaprobably goes hand in hand. Her followers and priests can often be foundwhere plots are being hatched and fell actions are foretold.

The spiteful, the malicious,and the reckless dominate the exclusivelyhuman clergy of the Maid of Misfortune. The Beshahan priesthood is splitapproximately in half into clerics and specialty priests, with only a smatter-ing of mystics belonging to the priesthood (and most of them dwellingapart in remote regions). Relations are good between the different types ofpriests, although it should be noted that the faith is led by priestesses—priestesses locked in an endless, vicious struggle for personal supremacy.Male clergy tend to be underpriests or the Black Fingers (professional assas-sins) of Beshaha; those high in status in Beshaba’s church are almost exclu-slvely female. Specialty priests are referred to as doommasters (a genderlessterm in this church). Many Beshaban shrines are simply places designatedto the faithful by the clergy for offerings, but otherwise not significantlydecorated except by a discreet symbol or rack of horns attached to some-thing painted red. Doommasters prefer underground facilities, especiallythose with a gothic flavor, for their temples, whether they are excavated fa-cilities or ones converted from natural caverns.

In ascending order of rank, the titles in general use by the church of Be-shaba are: Bewildered (as in “Bewildered Brother Gorm” or “BewilderedSister Lashayal” — the Bewildered are the novices), the Unfortunate (fullpriests who use similar forms of address as the Bewildered), Finger of Fear,Hand of Strife, Higher Hand of Strife, Hand of Gloom, Higher Hand ofGloom, Hand of Horror, Higher Hand of Horror, Hand of Despair, HigherHand of Despair, Mistress/Master of Dread, and Nails of the Lady.

Dogma: The ethos of Beshaba is the beliefs of Tymora stood on theirhead. Bad things happen to everyone, and only by following Beshaba may aperson perhaps be spared the worst of her effects. Too much good luck is abad thing, and to even it out, the wise should plan to undermine the fortu-nate. Whatever happens, it can only get worse.

Beshaba charges her novices to simply fear her and revere her. All herclergy are to spread the message across Faerûn to obey Beshaba and makeofferings to appease her. If she is not appeased, all will taste firsthand thecurse that is spreading Faerûn-wide: “Beshaba provides!” (What she pro-vides, of course, is misfortune to all and in generous supply.) Her clergy areto make others worship her and then they will be spared the ill luck she can

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Beshaba is worshlped in twoways: by those who believe only in her power and wish to appease her andby her faithful clergy.

To appease Beshaba, one must make an offering of something valuableand hold it in flames until it is at least partially consumed. Beshaba’s namemust be called out while this is done, and a prayer of praise and entreatymust made while on one’s knees immediately afterward. Beshaba is said tolook more kindly on entreaties made by those who allow themselves toburn their fingers somewhat in the offering.

Priests of Beshaba must make an offering to the Lady at least once a dayby setting fire to brandy, wine, or spirits while uttering the name of the god-dess and dipping a black antler tine into the mixture; prayers follow. A sec-ond prayer similar to the first must be made to Beshaba each night outsideunder a dark sky. If a member of the clergy is forcibly confined, at least aprayer during the hours of darkness 15 expected to be attempted. The night-time offering is a personal prayer for guidance, and the goddess often an-swers it with nightmare visions later in the evening.

Devotees of Beshaba Midsummer and Shieldmeet with wildrevels of destruction and rudeness to mark Beshaba’s nature as Maid of Mis-rule. Otherwise they ignore the calendar, holding special ceremonies uponthe deaths of important clergy and when a priestess ascends to a new rank.

The funeral ceremony is known as the Passing. It is a rare time of dignityand tender piety among the clergy. The body of the departed is floateddown a river amid floating candles in a spell ceremony designed to makethe corpse into an undead creature and teleport it to a random location else-where in the Realms to wreak immediate havoc. Senior clergy use spells ormagical items to scry from afar to see what damage is then done by the crea-ture’s sudden appearance.

The ceremony of ascension in rank is known is the Marking. It is a cer-emony involving drum music, dancing over flames, and the permanentmarking of the priest with a brand or tattoo. The priest being promotedmust bear the pain without benefit of spell or potion to ease it.

Major Centers of Worship: The most holy center of Beshaban worshipis the Spires Against the Stars, a hilltop fortress north of Satadush in east-ern Tethyr that was once a vampire-haunted, abandoned castle of a noblefamily. The Spires is headed by Nails of the Lady Dlatha Faenar, an elderlybut (through magic) still lushly beautiful priestess who has ruthlessly slainher rivals and so far eluded all attempts to destroy or depose her over thecourse of almost a century. Dlatha is said to be able to wield magics too po-tent for most mortals to use or comprehend.

Affiliated Orders: Beshaba has a secret society of assassins dedicated toher name called the Black Fingers. It is comprised of male members of herclergy and evil thieves and fighters.

Priestly Vestments: Female priests of Beshaba wear robes of mauve,purple, and black, and are branded or tattooed on one instep with Beshaba’sBadge (the antlers) and on one thigh with a row of marks of rank which canonly be read by fellon initiates. These are covered by normal clothing whenthe priestess is outside of temples or sites where ceremonies are being con-ducted. Male priests wear robes of crimson and are tattooed with Beshaba’sBadge on one cheek, a device which can be covered only by a mask, mud(or a similar substance), or long, unkempt hair. In services, doommasters ofeither gender who are leading a ceremony prefer simple black tunics withthe symbol of Beshaba on the chest and black stockings.

Adventuring Garb: When working in the field, under cover, on aquest, or simply traveling, most Beshaban clergy wear utilitarian garb ap-propriate to their locale and the level of danger they anticipate encoun-tering.

Specialty Priests (Doormasters)Requirements: Wisdom 10

Prime Req: W i s d o m

Rotten Luck Beshaban Spells2nd Level

powers, Tyche found herself embroiled, along with the rest of her circle ofdeities, in a war between the gods resulting from the actions of a current para-mour. Lathander Always fickle with her favors, Tyche kissed the Morninglordwith misfortune and wandered off to explore the Realms.

Before the Dawn Cataclysm, there was but one goddess of luck, Tyche.Ever flirting with fortune and disaster, Lady Luck bestowed and withdrewher favor at a whim. After eons of toying with the affections of various

During her travels, Lady Luck discovered a budding rose of unequaledbeauty. Delighted with this fortuitous happenstance, Tyche reached to pluckthis delightful token, which she assumed was a peace overture from Lathander,who sought to regain her good graces. Much to her amazement, Lady Luckcould not pluck the rose from its bush no matter how hard she tried. Frustrated,she cursed the rose with bad luck, and flower’s stem broke in her hands. Care-lessly, Tyche stuck the plucked rose behind her ear and continued on her way.

Unbeknownst to Tyche, the rose was a manifestation of Moander, god ofcorruption and decay. The severed rose stem crept into Tyche’s ear and subtlybegan to rot her from the inside out. Lady Luck now suffered from misfortune,and it sprang from her own careless hand.

When Tyche returned home, she came across her dear friend, the goddessSelûne, waiting to speak with her. Also waiting for her were Lathander, whowished to regain her affections, and Azuth, who had come to mediate the dis-pute between the two. Selûne wept great tears as she saw the corruption de-stroying her friend from within, and before Tyche could even intuit her intent,Selûne lashed out with a bolt of purifying light. Tyche’s rotted core split rightdown the middle and a smaller, brighter version of the goddess of luck steppedout, allowing the goddess of the moon to save that which was good and pure inher friend. However, following this first figure from the rotten external shell wasanother form stunning to behold, but full of dark malice and capricious ill will. Asthe two emerged, they immediately fell upon each other in hate, strugglingmadly, and were only separated by the combined efforts of all three visitors.

It is said that Tymora, Tyche’s Fair-Haired Daughter, embodies all the graceand kindness of her mother, while Beshaba, Tyche’s Unpleasant Daughter, gotonly her looks. Since their birth, the twin aspects of Tyche—Tymora, Lady Luck,and Beshaba, Maid of Misfortune—have battled each other in a civil war thatcontinues to this day.

4th Level

A L I G N M E N T : C EWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: All armor types up to and including plate mail and

shieldMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, chaos, charm, combat, guardian, healing (re-

versed forms only), protection, summoning, wardsM INOR SPHERES: Creation, divination, necromantic (reversed forms

only), timeMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: NoneBONUS PROFS: Nonel Once per game day, a doommaster can reduce the saving throw or attack

roll of one individual by one (a 3 becomes a 2, a 1 becomes a 0). Thepriest using this power glows a deep, radiant red for one round whendoing so. All effects of the die roll are based on the reduced number as ifit were the number originally rolled. The modification occurs immedi-ately after the number is rolled (that is, before any other numbers arerolled or other actions taken).

l At 3rd level, doommasters have the ability to cast Tasha’s uncontrollablehideous laughter (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) once a day.

l At 5th level, doommasters have the ability to cast bane of Beshaba (as the2nd-level priest spell) once a day.

l At 7th level, doommasters have the ability to cast misfire (as the 4th-level priest spell), probability control (as the 4th-level priest spell), orlower resistance (as the 5th-level wizard spell) once a day.

l At 10th level, doommasters have the ability to cast misfortune (as the5th-level priest spell) once a day.

l At 15th level, doommasters have the ability to automatically succeed atone saving throw that would avert an unfortunate or damaging effect forthemselves once a day. They must declare the use of this ability ratherthan roll for the saving throw. Note that this does not allow them to cir-cumvent effects that normally do not allow saving throws.

l At 20th level, doommasters have the ability to create the same effects asa Mordenkainen’s disjunction (as the 9th-level wizard spell) once a tenday.

Bane of Beshaba (Abjuration)Sphere: CombatRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One living creatureSaving Throw: NoneIn a spiritual sense, the bane of Beshaba (also known as “Beshaba’s Arsekick”)is the reversed version of the favor of Tymora spell employed by the servantsof Beshaba’s nemesis. This spell confers a curse upon a single living creaturethat cannot be ended by dispel magic or other magical effects. It lasts untilthe death of the target creature or until its power is exhausted by use. Thespells favor of Tymora and bane of Beshaba automatically cancel each otherout if cast on the same creature, regardless of how many saving throws thefirst spell to be cast has affected.

A priest of Beshaba must physically touch the recipient with a bare handto cast this spell, requiring a successful attack roll if the recipient is in battleor not unaware or immobilized. The bane of Beshaba confers penalties uponthe saving throws of the victim it affects. The first saving throw made by thevictim after the spell is successfully cast is made at a -4 penalty, even if ittakes place later in the same round as the spell took effect. The second sav-ing throw after the spell takes effect is at a -3 penalty, the next at a -2penalty, and the following one at a -1 penalty. After the four penalized sav-ing throws occur, the magic is exhausted.

Only one such spell can be in effect upon a victim at any one time. Ad-ditional castings of bane of Beshaba have no effect while one bane of Beshabais still in effect. Unlike Tymora, Beshaba imposes no restrictions on herpriests as to how many times this spell may be cast upon a creature.

The material components of this spell are a sliver of a broken mirror andthe priest’s holy symbol (which is not consumed in casting the spell).

Misfire (Enchantment/Charm, Necromancy)Sphere: CombatRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: SDuration: 1 day/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: NoneThe victim of a misfire cannot hit any chosen target with any thrown, fired,slung, or otherwise projected missile weapon for the spell duration, thoughunintended targets may well be hit by the victim’s use of such weapons. A re-move curse, dispel magic, or bless spell cast upon the recipient disrupts thismagic and ends the spell.

5 t h L e v e l

Misfortune (Enchantment/Charm, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, CharmRange: TouchComponents: SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Tune: 5Area of Effect: One living creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell causes the recipient to receive a -3 penalty on all saving throws,ability checks, initiative checks, proficiency checks, attack rolls, and damagerolls and a -15% penalty to all thieving skill checks for the spell duration. Apriest of Beshaba must physically touch the recipient with a bare hand to castthis spell, requiring a successful attack roll if the recipient is in battle or notunaware or immobilized. A remove curse or dispel magic ends the spell prema-turely, and its caster can also banish a misfortune by silent act of will.

Bhaal (Dead)(Lord of Murder)Intermediate Power of Gehenna, LEPORTFOLIO:ALIASES:

Death, especially violent or ritual deathNone

DOMAIN NAME: Formerly: Khalas/The Throne of Blood; currently adriftin the Astral Plane

SUPERIOR: Bane (now dead)ALLIES: Bane (now dead), Hoar, Loviatar, Myrkul (now dead),

Talona, MaskFOES: Chauntea, Helm, Lathander, Torm, Tyr, Ilmater, LliiraSYMBOL: A white, face-on human skull surrounded by a counter-

clockwise orbit of many streaming teardropsWOR. ALIGN.: LN, LE, N, NE, CN, CE

Bhaal (Bahl), one of the Dark Gods, was the god ofdeath, particularly of slaying, assassination, and vio-lent death. His was a powerful faith in Faerûn at onetime, and the Lord of Murder was venerated by nu-merous assassins, violent mercenaries, and other bru-tal and fiendish killers. While he lived, Loviatar andTalona served him (though the two were rivals toeach other), and he in turn served Bane.

Bhaal was violent, cruel, and hateful at all times, and lived only to huntand murder. He could be alternately cold, calculating, and ruthless or filledwith a savage bloodlust. The presence of living creatures instilled a deadlyhunger in the Lord of Murder and an overpowering need to kill and destroy.His minions, such as Kazgoroth the Beast in the Moonshae Islands, wroughtdevastation and violent death wherever they roamed.

Bhaal suffered a series of reverses prior to the Time of Troubles, the mostvital being his banishment from the Moonshaes. Bhaal tried to destroy theEarthmother (Chauntea) and seize the Moonshae Islands as his personal do-main. The Ravager, imbued with a greater fraction of Bhaal�s essence than isnormally contained in an avatar, was slain by Tristan, High King of theFfolk, who wielded the Sword of Cymrych Hugh. As a result, Bhaal was se-verely weakened and exiled from the Realms for a time.

Before Bhaal could rebuild much of his power, he was returned to Faerûnin avatar form by the will of Ao during the Fall of the Gods. Bhaal, reducedto a killing force able only to possess humans, then went on a spree of murderand destruction the like of which had never before been seen. When LordBane sought the power needed to challenge Torm, he slew all of the assassinsin the Realms who made up the bulk of the Lord of Murder�s faithful, furtherreducing Bhaal�s power. After the Lord of Strife�s destruction, Bhaal forged analliance with Myrkul. The two gods sought the Tablets of Fate so that theycould return to the Outer Planes. After pursuing her across the Heartlands,Bhaal kidnapped Midnight and seized one Tablet of Fate, but was murderedsoon after by Cyric with the sword Godsbane (later revealed to have been theavatar form of Mask). What remained of Bhaal�s essence was absorbed by theWinding Water, and that river has subsequently been poisonous from theBoareskyr Bridge downstream to the Trollclaw Ford.

It is believed a fragment of Bhaal�s personality remains in the jet black,foul-smelling waters of the Winding Water much like Myrkul�s essence sur-vives in the Crown of Horns and fragments of Bane�s personality survive inhis servitor Baneliches. If Bhaal is ever resurrected, it will be in the shadowof Boareskyr Bridge.

Bhaal's Avatar (Thief 32, Fighter 27)

Bhaal rarely appeared in avatar form, but when he did in urban settings hetypically assumed a form known as the Slayer. The Slayer looked like ahuman male corpse with a feral face, ivory-white skin, and deep lacerationsthat endlessly wept black ichor that vanished before it struck anything.

Bhaal manifested in rural settings, such as the Moonshaes, as a giant of aman. The Ravager, as this form was known, was over 30 feet tall, with long,tough sinews, a flowing beard and mane of hair, eyes that glowed with theflames of Gehenna, a face twisted in a grimace of supernatural hatred, andtwo 7-foot-long curved horns protruding from his forehead.

AC -4; MV 15; HP 217; THAC0 -6; #AT 5/2 (Slayer) or 2/1* (Ravager)Dmg 1d4+ 16 (bone dagger, +12 Str, +2 spec. bonus in dagger�Slayer) or1d10+12/1d10+12 (+12 Str�Ravager)MR 90%; SZ M (6 feet, Slayer) or G (30 feet, Ravager)Str 24, Dex 24, Con 22, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 17Spells NoneSaves PPDM 3, RSW 4, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 5

*The Ravager made two sets of twin punches per round for a total of four fiststrikes and could also gore or rake certain opponents with his horns.

Special Att/Def: The Slayer could levitate at will and walk on air. Hismovements were always silent, and his voice soft, menacing, and cold. Inbattle, the Slayer wielded one of the infinite number of bone daggers hid-den on his person or that he could conjure out of thin air. Body parts

wounded by these wielded daggers would wither. If the wounded area werea head or torso, it would shrivel and the victim would suffer an additional3d4 points of damage above the given bone dagger damage; if a limb, itwould shrivel and become unusable.

The Slayer could also animate up to six bone daggers at will at MV Fl 16(A) to each strike twice a round at THAC0 4, attacking as +2 magicalweapons for purposes of what they could attack and doing 1d4+2 points ofchilling damage per successful strike. These daggers would then wink out ofexistence as the Slayer willed. The body of anyone slain by one of these an-imated daggers could�if the Slayer desired�become a zombie under hiscommand or be made to burst apart, all its bones shattering and joining anybone daggers the Lord of Murder had already animated to become a bladebarrier of bone shards. Such a bone-shard blade barrier inflicted 12d12points of damage upon those who tried to pass it and lasted as long as theSlayer willed�in other words, it could be left as a permanent feature. Thesebone-shard blade barriers filled any volume of space from 5 cubic feet to 70cubic feet in any shape. If the Slayer created a permanent bone-shard bladebarrier, the spirit of the slain being remained in the affected area as part ofthe animating force affecting the bones. The Slayer could also awaken anurge to slay (see below) or cast attraction (or its reverse�see below) at will.

The Ravager was a rampaging titan of destruction. He attacked with histwo massive fists that could easily crush stone in their grasp. When facingsize L or bigger opponents, he could gore or rake them with his fearsomehorns for 3d10 points of damage on a successful attack in addition to hisnormal fist attacks (two sets of two punches per round). The Ravager couldonly be hit by weapons of +4 or greater enchantment and regenerated 5 hitpoints per round.

In either form, Bhaal could animate or create any type of undead crea-ture indefinitely by touch. All skeletons or zombies he animated obeyedhim absolutely. Greater undead that he created were required to performone service for him and were then free-willed. Bhaal could also automati-cally disrupt any undead creature of less than divine status with his touch atwill, turning it into dust that not even he could reanimate. The Lord ofMurder was immune to all forms of attack by undead creatures of any sort.

Other ManifestationsBhaal manifested as a pair of flying crawling claws (animated skeletalhands�in Bhaal�s case, always a matching human pair) that could point,carry or wield things, or grow or fire bone daggers that emerged from theirfinger ends but did not diminish the hands themselves. (The daggers firedas light crossbow quarrels with a THAC0 of 4.) Alternately, the Lord ofMurder sometimes appeared as a laughing human skull that hurtled aboutat MV Fl 16 (A) trailing teardrops. In either manifestation, Bhaal couldspeak or cause darkness 15� radius around a focal point anywhere within 90feet of his manifestation. He could also awaken in any lawful evil-alignedbeing an urge to slay. If he did so and the being failed a saving throw vs.spell, the being would rush to attack whatever target Bhaal directed it to,striking twice per round with whatever weapon came to hand at THAC0 4and moaning and sobbing uncontrollably (in other words, normal speech orwarnings were impossible) with its need to take life. Bhaal could affect upto a dozen lawful evil creatures per round with an urge to slay if that manywere within 90 feet of his avatar or manifestation.

The Lord of Murder often acted through a variety of violent, deadlymonsters, including skeletal undead of all sorts, from deathfangs to dread,and many species of tentacled monsters, from darktentacles to philosophergrell. It is said that harrla of hate were created by Bhaal to stalk the Realmsand that the hand of the Lord of Murder guided their choice of victims.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: YesAll clerics and specialty priests of Bhaal received religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.

Priests of the Lord of Murder were known as either Bhaalists or Bhaalyn(the latter term being most favored east of the Dragonreach, the formerwestward to the Sword Coast) and were always a disorganized web of strictlylocal hierarchies. Bhaalists/Bhaalyn tended to be clerics in the urban areas ofthe Realms, while in remote areas (such as the Moonshaes), they tended tobe specialty priests known as deathstalkers.

Bhaal was (fittingly) murdered during the Time of Troubles by Cyric, themortal who would become his successor. In the main, his faith has beentaken over by the Dark Sun, and Bhaal�s temples have been almost totally

converted to the worship of the Prince of Lies. The followers of Bhaal inurban areas have almost universally switched to worshiping Cyric to the ex-tent of adopting the new deity’s vestments, ceremonies, religion-specificspells, and the abilities he grants his specialist clergy members. They refer tothe power they venerate as Cyric. For some years the former Bhaalyn ofThay referred to him as Cyric-Bhaal to differentiate him from the lesser as-pects of Cyric worshiped by former Banites, whose deity was utterly de-stroyed and who they felt had erroneously declared Cyric to be their deity aswell. Relationships between the Bhaal-Cyricists and the factions of theother believers of Cyric were heavily strained, but order was imposed duringCyric’s purges among his converted faithful during the years following theyear of the Banedeath (1361 DR)and now all former Bhaalists and Bhaalyn(uncomfortably) acknowledge their deity to be simply Cyric.

Prior to the Fall of the Gods, relations between the city-bred and countryversions of Bhaal’s priesthood were fair, but cool and distant. The differencesbetween the two factions increased with the demise of the Lord of Murder dur-ing the Time of Troubles. The rural followers of Bhaal retained their belief inBhaal for years, pointing to the fact that they still received their accustomedmagical spells. However, shortly after the schism between urban and ruralBhaalists reached its height in 1367 DR and ambushes were reported betweenrival factions, rural Bhaalyn priests ceased receiving spells in Bhaal’s name,and most have now converted to Cyricism or Xvimism. What isolated andminute pockets of pure Bhaal worship still exist are usually in remote ruralareas, presided over by an ancient priest. Many of these former worshipers arenow venerating the orcish and other nonhuman pantheons as well.

The leader of an area or faction of Bhaal-worship, regardless of level, wasalways known as the High Primate/High Primistress (this strange femaleform of the title thankfully seems unique to this faith), and the head of atemple or fortress was its Primate/Primistress. (Often fortresses of Bhaal werecitadels that sheltered many assassins and sent forth agents to nearby townsor city marketplaces to solicit patrons to hire the occupants of the citadel toperform killings.) The assistants of a Primate or Primistress (known in manyother faiths as “priors”) held the title First Murder, and the First Murdercould call upon the Cowled Deaths (nine most senior clergy members whoheld offices in the religious household or community). Underneath theseeminences were the common clergy members, col lect ively known asDeathdealers and bearing the shared title (regardless of level or rank) ofSlaying Hand.

Urban temples dedicated to the Lord of Murder were typically dark, spar-tan dungeons located beneath a city’s streets featuring an occasional mosaicor sculpture depicting a violent death. Most contained several chambers oftokens taken from the bodies of murder victims and large crypts filled withthe corpses of past victims who could not be left where they fell. (The in-habitants of such crypts were often restless.) Rural holy sites were usuallyprimitive shrines located on barren hilltops and dominated by blood-stainedsacrificial altars. Typically a ring of stones carved to resemble teardrop-shaped skulls is inlaid in the ground around the altar.

Dogma: Bhaalists believed (in their sick and twisted way) that every mur-der committed strengthened holy Bhaal. As a result, they viewed murder asboth a pastime and a duty. Bhaalists were required to deal death once in everytenday during the darkest period at the heart of the night. If imprisonment orother constraining circumstances made this impossible, they had to murdertwice for each death missed. In accordance with the Lord of Murder’s teach-ings, Bhaalists strove to ensure that before they died, murder victims knewwho was killing them and that their death was in the name of Bhaal.

Novices of Bhaal were charged as follows: “Make all folk fear Bhaal. Letyour killings be especially elegant, or grisly, or seem easy so that those ob-serving them are awed or terrified. Tell folk that gold proffered to the churchcan make the Lord of Murder overlook them for today.”

Day-to-Day Activities: While Bhaal also encouraged the pursuit of per-sonal wealth and hobbies, in the main, Bhaalists spent their nights perform-ing murders and their days preparing for murder (procuring or caring forweapons, journeying to the appropriate site, praying to Bhaal for success,sleeping under guard so as to be fully awake for the hours of darkness, eating,training, praying for spells, and the like). Many served as assassins, bountyhunters, and mercenaries or in organized brotherhoods of men and womenin such professions.

Priests of Bhaal enjoyed killing for its own sake but tried not to murderindiscriminately. Much time and thought went into the planning of not justthe dark deeds, but the implications of killing this or that individual. Thechurch tried to eliminate all rivals and those who stood against it, to be sure,but also strove to enrich itself by frightening common folk into placing of-ferings of coinage and valuables before Bhaalists and by taking care to leteconomically and socially important individuals live unharmed. High Pri-

mates spent much of their time planning the proper strategies of manipulat-ing nearby rulers, inhabitants, and organizations into the deeds and behaviorthat the Bhaalyn desired.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The main ritual to Bhaal is, ofcourse, an act of slaying,during which the priest intoned: “Bhaal awaitsthee, Bhaal embraces thee, none escape Bhaal” (if necessary, repeatedly).After each murder, a priest of Bhaal drew Bhaal’s symbol beside the corpse inthe blood of the victim and smeared the blood on his or her own hands,from where it promptly vanished if the ceremony was done fitly.

Priests also prayed to Bhaal upon retiring for slumber (in a temple, thiswas done en masse, in a formal ceremony known as Day’s Farewell) andwhenever they set out to slay. Moreover, every increase in priestly rank wasmarked by a solemn private ritual in which the ascending priest went outfrom the temple to return only after slaying another with nothing save his orher bare hands. The events of the killing were related privately to a seniorpriest, and if the signs were deemed favorable, the new rank was conveyed ina church ritual held in full ceremonial regalia by all temple clergy membersduring which a living sacrifice to Bhaal was made. Senior priests were saidhave an uncanny ability to ferret out lies about this private ritual and beharsh in their punishment of those bearing false report.

Lay worshipers of Bhaal (but not priests) were to pray to Bhaal for thelimited safety of “his overlook” when setting forth on journeys or intoknown danger. They were also to pray when giving gold to Bhaalists (to en-sure that the Lord of Murder accepted their gift) and whenever a violentdeath occurred nearby or to someone related to them.

The only calendar ritual of the church of Bhaal occurred on the Feast ofthe Moon, when the dead of the faith were remembered and Bhaalists cele-brated especially important or impressive slayings by retelling stories of thesedeeds. One of the most “splendid” tales of gore told often is of one of the ex-ploits of the famous priest-mage Uthaedeol the Blood-drenched. It is of hiskilling of the warned and guarded King Samyte of Tethyr.

Uthaedeol teleported to appear in midair in front of a pegasus-ridingpalace guard, slew the man, and rode his steed forcibly down to its death,smashing through a skylight into the throne room. Uthaedeol leapt clear ofthe pegasus as the king’s archers peppered it with shafts, and rode a preparedflight magic down to plunge into one eye of the king’s guardian blackdragon. He slew the great drake with his own still-secret destroying fist spell(known to be a small, localized disintegrate effect) and rode its involuntarydying breath across the throne room, gliding along the stream of acid itbreathed protected by his enchanted armor.

As the armor blackened, crumbled, and fell away, Uthaedeol cast a spellthat flung all arrows in the room, even those not yet fired, into swarmingflight. He then sprang to meet the king in single combat with his lone dag-ger against Samyte’s broad sword. It is recorded that Uthaedeol slew everyguard who came against him as he slashed the unfortunate monarch’s skin inhundreds of places; he then cast a spell that forced the king into a veritabledance of death so that he fell lifeless from exsanguination.

The priest-mage then cast two entrapping spells and teleported away.The first trap was a meteor swarm activated whenever any spell was next castin the throne room. It slew four court wizards of note. The second was a bladebarrier set to erupt into being when someone who was blood kin to the kingnext entered the room. It slew the king’s two eldest sons.

Major Centers of Worship: The Tower of Swift Death just outsideTyraturos in Thay, where Primate Oumrant Tsulkide leads a fortress full oftrained killers with the blessing (and financial support) of the Red Wizards,was one of the few remaining temples in the Realms solely dedicated to Bhaaluntil the Year of the Tankard (1370 DR), when it finally formally switched tothe worship of Cyric. (Before then, Cyric supplied the priests’ spells in Bhaal’sname.) The Red Wizards often employ those trained in the Toner on mis-sions for the great glory of Thay (and, oh yes, of Bhaal—er, Cyric).

Affiliated Orders: Bhaal’s clergy members sponsored countless brother-hoods of assassins and thieves throughout the Realms. Prominent amongthem were the Shadow Thieves of Amn and the Citadel of Assassins in theGalena Mountains (both of which still exist, though Bhaal does not). Al-though the true aasassins of the Realms have all been destroyed and Bhaalmurdered, guilds established in his name continue his legacy of murder anddeath as an avocation if not a vocation. These orders still pay ritual homage tothe Lord of Murder as well as his successor, Cyric, and are comprised of evilfighters, wizards, priests, and rogues who work as assassins. All specialty priestsof Bhaal belonged to a society known as the Brethren of the Keen Strike.

Priestly Vestments: Regardless of rank or gender, all Bhaalyn wore fullceremonial robes and cowls of deep purple or of black with violet streaks ofrandom size, shape, and placement. The interior linings of the cowl and gar-ments were always deep black, and a black veil was worn over the face to

make the cowlseem empty to an observer. High-ranking priests sometimesadded a scarletsash to this costume for easy recognition when ill-lit ritualswere taking place. Curve-bladed ceremonial daggers (treat them as normaldaggers except for their shape) were worn at the belt, but only High Pri-mates, Primates, or members of the Brethren of the Keen Strike employedthem in combat or slayings; all other Bhaalists used them only in rituals.

Adventuring Garb: When adventures were undertaken or guard dutyperformed, Bhaalyn wore full armor of the best type they could obtain orwere allowed to wear. Black capes and black leggings usually accompaniedthe serviceable armor.

Speciality Priests (Deathstalkers)REQUIREMENTS: Constitution 12, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Constitution, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : L EWEAPONS: All bludgeoning and piercing (Type B, Type P, and Type

P/B) weaponsARMOR: All armor types up to and including chain mail; no

shieldsM AJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, charm, combat, elemental, healing, law,

necromantic, summoningMINOR SPHERES: Divination, creation, guardian, timeMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Hunting, ceremonial daggerTracking

l There is a ½% chance per level (round up) that any physical blow in-flicted with a ceremonial dagger by a deathstalker on a man-sized orsmaller creature is devastatingly potent in aim and effect (fatal or nearlyfatal). The victim is immediately reduced to 0 hit points (whether orno t the optional -10 hp death rule is in use) or the totalindicated bythe normal damage of the blow including all applicable bonuses andpenalties, whichever is lower.

l At 7th level, deathstalkers mayard spell) once per month.

cast finger of death (as the 7th-level wiz-

l At 10th level, deathstalkers may engage in plane skipping. Plane skip-ping involves the deathstalker traveling to Bhaal’s area of Gehenna,moving through that plane, and then traveling back into the Prime Ma-terial Plane at his or her destination. In general, each 10 feet movedthrough Gehenna equals one mile of distance on the Prime MaterialPlane. Direction does not matter in Gehenna, since the will of Bhaaland the intention of the traveler determine where she or he comes out.The plane skip takes a turn to prepare for the movement into Gehennaand another turn to return plus travel tune while in Gehenna. Thisform of travel is 100% reliable under normal circumstances, but it can-not pierce magical shields, areas sanctified to the forces of good, anti-magical areas, or areas that cannot he reached from the Outer Planes.Plane-skipping deathstalkers are not protected while in Gehenna, sinceBhaal considers those capable of traveling to his homeland capable ofprotecting themselves. Deathstalkers may take another person withthem for every two levels of experience over 10th they possess.

l At 11th level, deathstalkers may summon an aerial servant (as per the6th-level priest spell aerial servant). This servant will fight for the death-stalker (contrary to normal restrictions on the spell) and can act as amagical assassin. Only one aerial servant may be summoned per month(30 days), and only one may be controlled at a tune.

Bhaalist Spells2nd LevelAttraction (Alteration) ReversibleSphere: CharmRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 hour/levelCasting Tune: 1 roundArea of Effect: One target beingSaving Throw: Neg.This spell is much used by priests of Bhaal because of their ambient air ofdeath. Attraction replaces any negative emotions the target has toward thespellcaster with opposite positive emotions if the target being fails a savingthrow vs. spell. Repulsion becomes attraction, hatred becomes love, etc.The spell also temporarily raises the caster’s Charisma by 1d4+2 points inrespect to the target being for the spell’s duration, making the target’s re-actions to and loyalty to the caster much more likely to be positive andhelpful.

The reverse of this spell, disdain, replaces all positive feelings the targetbeing has toward a named being (which can be the caster if she or he reallywants to be despised by someone) with opposite negative emotions. It alsotemporarily lowers the named being’s Charisma by 1d4+2 points in respectto the target being for the spell’s duration, making the target’s reactions toand loyalty to the named being much more likely to be negative and hostile.

In either form, the saving throw against this spell has a modifier of +1through +5 (as adjudicated by the DM) if the emotions to be changed areextremely intense. As such, it is much more useful as a ploy to make a datewith a barmaid (who is motivated to please customers anyway) than it is toconvert the feelings of one’s enemies.

The material component of this spell is the holy symbol of the castingpriest.

3rd LevelDecay (Alteration)Sphere: TimeRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: 1 cubic foot/levelSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell accelerates the aging of any item. It has no effect on living matterFor every hour that passes, the object decays a day. Equally, any abrasion orstrain to the article is increased twenty-fold. After an appropriate amount oftime has passed, most objects break, rust or corrode, decay into ponder, orotherwise become useless. A successful dispel magic halts the accelerateddecay process and return’s an item’s aging to normal rates; aging that has al-ready taken effect is permanent, however.

Normal items do not receive a saving throw against this spell’s effects.Magical items receive a saving throw against the spell; they must make asuccessful item saving throw vs. lightning at a -2 penalty or be affected bythe spell. Artifacts and relics are unaffected by this spell. To affect an itembeing carried or worn by someone, the casting priest must make a successfulattack roll with his or her hand.

The material component of this spell is the holy symbol of the castingpriest.

5th LevelWound (Necromantic)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 120 yardsComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One target beingSaving Throw: Neg.A ranged version of the spell cause serious wounds, this spell does 2d8+1points of damage to the target creature. If the target being succeeds at a sav-ing throw vs. spell, all damage is negated.

Chauntea(The Great Mother, the Grain Goddess.the Golden Goddess, She Who Shapes All)Greater Power of Elysium, NGPORTFOLIO: Agriculture, plants cultivated by humans, farmers, gar-

deners, summerALIASES: Earthmother (Moonshae), (Jannath, Pahluruk (among

the peoples of the Great Glacier), Bhalla (Rashemen)DOMAIN NAME: Eronia/Great Mother’s GardenSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Lathander, Silvanus, Eldath, Mielikki, Shiallia, Selûne.

Lurue the UnicornFOES: Talos and the gods of fury (Auril, Umberlee, and Malar),

Talona, Moander (non dead), Bane (now dead), Bhaal(now dead), Myrkul (now dead)

SYMBOL: A budding flower encircled by a sunburst or (older) asheaf of golden wheat on a green field

WOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LG, NG, CG

Chauntea (Chawn-TEE-ah) rarely appears to mor-tals, although the most devout sometimes see hersmiling face in their dreams. Her hand is on everyplace where humans seek to grow things. She is nota goddess given to spectacle or pageant, hut rathercalls her followers to small acts of devotion. She isimmensely popular among gardeners, farmers, andcommon folk of many nations. Through her bless-

ing, most of Faerûn is fruitful. She is wise and quiet, though not passive, andis not given to hasty action. Aside from the divine interactions mentionedabove, she has a cordial ongoing contest with Tempus and a friendly rivalrywith Gond. Lathander and Chauntea have had an off-again, on-again ro-mance for centuries (currently on), but the relationship between them is al-ways warm.

Chauntea has a special relationship with the people of the MoonshaeIsles, a place which she has dedicated a portion of her being, known asEarthmother, to oversee specifically. Earthmother is a more primitive facetof Chauntea who is representative of the goddess’s nature in eons past andis much more wild and neutral in her outlook. She often uses three agentsin the Moonshaes, said to be her Children: Leviathan, a great whale whoguards the waters of the Moonshaes; Kamerynn, a great male unicorn, theking of the wilderness; and the Pack, a gathering of dire wolves melded intoa single, unstoppable horde in the service of the goddess. Absent from theMoonshaes for years, these children have been spotted individually of late inthe wilds and the sea.

Chauntea�s Avatar (Druid 40, Cleric 20)Chauntea is portrayed as a kindly, white-haired woman of middle years, wiseby virtue of a long life well-lived. She has a lush beauty, tanned, brown skin,and a powerful build. She is usually draped in white robes of the finest linenor heavy silk cinched by a girdle embroidered with all manner of growingplants. Leaves, vines, and flowers twine through her hair and about herbody, some even seeming to grow from her head. She draws her spells fromall priest spheres.

AC -6; MV 15; HP 197; THAC0 -6, #AT 1Dmg 1d10+9 (+9 STR)MR 80%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 20, DEX 19, CON 25, INT 22, WIS 25, CHA 25Spells P: 17/16/16/15/15/14/12Saves PPDM 2, RSW 6, PP 5, BW 8, Sp 7

Special Att/Def: Chauntea’s touch has the power to banish disease andbarrenness, bestowing instant life and fertility. By touch she can also trans-form foes who attack her into shambling mounds or treants, unless they suc-ceed at a saving throw vs. polymorph. She prefers to ignore wounds ratherthan return attacks in most cases. Wounds inflicted on her gush forth life-giving sweet water and swift-racing floral vines rather than blood. Normalanimals and their giant analogs refuse to attempt to harm her and do herbidding instantly. She cannot be harmed by any plant or fungus (sentient orotherwise), or plant- or fungus-based attack, nor can she be poisoned, trans-formed into any shape she does not wish to assume, or affected by any earth-based or water-based attacks or spells.

Other ManifestationsChauntea often manifests as a flower where none has been or should be thatsprouts, rises, and blossoms with lightning speed. Such a flower may appearas a simple sign of the approval of the goddess or a “yes” answer to a questionasked in prayer. The blooming of such a flower can also accompany the sud-den appearance of seeds, a garden tool, or helpful plants or herbs. Her floralsignature also has marked the parting of growing things to reveal a path,door, or other feature that is being sought.

Chauntea sometimes uses sprintes, brownies, firestars, and messenger spir-its to do her bidding. These messenger spirits take the form of larks, robins,red hens, talking trees, or motes of light dancing in the air. They appear veryseldom to mortals, but are common in the Great Mother’s Garden,Chauntea’s home domain.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, druids, mystics, monks, shamansALIGNMENT: LN, N, CN, LG, NG, CGTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, D: No, Mys: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if goodCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, D: No, Mys: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if neutralAll clerics, druids, mystics, monks, and shamans of Chauntea receive reli-gion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Clerics, mystics, and

The Unicorn Run

B ards and sages pass down the tale the headwaters of the Unicorn Run are.in truth, the Font of Life, and a cradle of fecundity, Each natural race is saidto have emerged from the womb of chauntea onto Toril at the river’s

source and then traveled down the Unicorn Run to the outside world. Some saya daughter of Chauntea resides at the river’s source to usher the newborns intothe world, while others claim that Shiallia midwifes the process

Regardless ofthe truth, the lore of the elves, korreds. and halflings all agreethat the Unicorn Run is sacred to life and a site of incredible purity. As a result, allthree races have strong taboos about extended trips up the run, for if the river isever fouled, then no new races will ever be born on Toril again

shamans of Chauntea are immune to the poisons found in plants and mush-rooms. Clerics cannot draw spells from the elemental fire sphere, thoughthey may access all other elemental spheres normally. Clerics and shamansare encouraged to take the herbalism nonweapon proficiency and receivethe agriculture nonweapon proficiency as a bonus proficiency.

Chauntea’s priests tend to be folk of all races who have a deeplove forthe land and an appreciation of natural ways and balances, seeing humansand other intelligent life as part of an ongoing series of cycles. They tendto be gardeners or farmers by trade and training and have an increasing ap-preciation for the beauty of plants that brings them at last to the venera-tion of She Who Shapes All.

Chauntea is spoken of as “Our Mother” or “the Mother of All” by herclergy. They know that she is very powerful in a quiet way—and like her,they tend to be quiet and patient in theirways. Many members of herclergy are female. In the communities in which they dwell, they are knownfor their wisdom and appreciated for their willingness to freely (withoutfee or obligation) tie up their skirts and pitch in when agricultural workmust be done, especially where farmers are ill or injured.

Though Chauntea’s faith has some large, impressive temples andshrines whose granaries ensure that food for all is abundant in their vicini-ties. the backbone of the Earthmother’s faith is composed of small, localtemples. Often these are seed-storage caverns near pure wells. Chaunteanservices are also held in open fields and druid groves.

Chauntea’s church has two wings: standard clerics who minister tothe faithful in towns, cities, and civilized areas, and druids who work inmore outlying regions. With the success of the town priests, the druidshave been moving farther and farther afield. The relationship betweenthe druids, who call themselves “True Clerics of Chauntea,” and themore civilized clerics is cordial, but at times strained. The druids have al-ways venerated Chauntea and consider the more recent city disciples tobe upstarts. The more civilized priests, in turn, feel that the druids’ day isdone, and while druids are still useful in wild lands, the rising nationsneed an organized, professional faith controlled by a more reasonableand rational clergy. The percentage breakdown of clerics and druids inthe clergy is about 40% clerics and 50% druids. Mystics and shamans,who work alone outside of either wing of the church and report only toShe Who Shapes All herself, comprise only 5% of the priesthood to-gether, and monks, who are always allied to a particular temple or druidiccircle’s leader, round out the remaining 5%.

Priests of Chauntea use such titles as (in ascending order of rank) CloseOne, Watchful Brother/Sister of the Earth, Trueseed, Harvestmaster/Har-vestmistress; High Harvestmaster/Harvestmistress, and Onum.

Dogma: Chauntea’s faith is one of nurture and growth. Agriculturalsayings and farming parables dot her teachings. Growing and reaping, theeternal cycle, is a common thread in Chauntea’s faith. Destruction for itsown sake, or leveling without rebuilding, is anathema to the church.Chauntean priests are charged to nurture, tend, and plant whenever andwherever possible; protect trees and plants, and save their seeds so thatwhat is destroyed can be replaced; see to the fertility of the earth, but letthe human womb see to its own; and to eschew fire.

Day-to-Day Practices: Priests of Chauntea are charged to learn—andpass on to others, both fellow clergy and laity—all they can of horticul-ture, herblore, plant types, and plant diseases, and to encourage all civi-lized folk to enrich the land by replanting, composing, and irrigation, notmerely to graze or dig it bare for what it can yield and then pass on. Theyreplant trees wherever they go, root out weeds that strangle and chokecrop plants, and till plants back into the soil. They strive to let no day passin which they have not helped a living thing to flourish.

Clergy of Chauntea are encouraged to work against plant disease wher-ever they go. They often hire nonbelievers to help them burn diseasedplants or the corpses of plague-ridden livestock to prevent the spread of

sickness. They keep careful watch over such blazes. Chauntean clerics donot like handling fire but are not forbidden to use nonmagical fire.

Chauntean Spells

2 n d L e v e lChauntea encourages her faithful to make offerings of food to strangers andthose in need, freely sharing the bounty of the land. It is also said that moneygiven to one of her temples returns to the giver tenfold. Worshipers shouldplant at least one seed or small plant-cutting a tenday, tend it faithfully for aslong as possible, and see that their own wastes are always tilled back into thesoil to feed later life. Any extra seeds yielded by plantings should be taken to atemple of the goddess for distribution to the less fortunate.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Every day should begin with whis-pered thanks to Chauntea for continued life and close with a prayer to thesetting sun, from whence (Chaunteans believe) the Great Mother sends herpower. Prayer to the Great Mother must be made whenever things areplanted, but should otherwise occur when Worshipers are moved to do so bythe beauty of nature around them, which they are always encouraged to no-tice. Prayer to the Golden Goddess is heat made on freshly tilled ground,farmland, or a garden, or falling that, at least at a well or watering place.Chauntea listens best to those who enrich the ground, so before prayer manypriests bury wastes, dispose of the litter of civilization, or plant seeds.

Few ceremonies of worship fall at set times. Passing one’s wedding nightin a freshly tilled field is held by, Chaunteans to ensure fertility in marriage.Greengrass is a fertility festival, wherein uninhibited behavior and con-sumption of food and drink is encouraged. The much more solemn HighPrayers of the Harvest celebrate the bounty Chauntea has given a commu-nity and are held at different times in each community to coincide with theactual harvest of crops, rather than precisely on Higharvestide.

3rd Leve l

Major Centers of Worship: Goldenfields, a vast, walled abbey and farmcompound east and north of Waterdeep, is the current pride of Chauntea.The goddess is said to be delighted at the community of more 5,000 wor-shipers who till over 20 square miles of contiguous land and outlying holdingson the banks of the Dessarin. The largest and most energetic project under-taken by the faithful of Chauntea, it has become the Granary of the North.

Goldenfields supplanted the older Harvest House in central Amn as themost important center of Chauntean worship, hut the ornate formal gardensof the all-female Sisters of the House remain unmatched in the knownRealms. However, this smaller temple of Chauntea is being challenged evenfor its second-place ranking by the smaller but almost perfectly appointedAbbey of the Golden Sheaf in Mistledale, which serves the dale around itwith admirable skill and digilence.

Affiliated Orders: While by no means defenseless, the church ofChauntea has no affiliated military or knightly orders. Those who guard itstemples and shrines are usually members of the clergy.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of high rank of all types in the service ofChauntea tend to favor white or sun-colored ceremonial robes trimmed indeep forest green and to use staves smoothed by much handling but other-wise natural in appearance. Some such staves are enchanted to purify or pro-mote the growth of what they touch.

Adventuring Garb: Chauntea’s clerics, monks, and shamans dresssimply and without pretense most of the time. They favor earth tones ofgreen and brown. The druids prefer simple brown robes with high rank de-noted only by a belt laced with gold thread or some other similar, preciousdecoration. The citified clerics, on the other hand, wear an open-frontedbrown cloak with more standard garments, like tunic and trousers, under-neath. Mystics dress in everyday clothes or robes of more colorful garb inbrighter green, yellow, rust, and brown earth tones.

4th Level

Specialty Priests (Druids)REQUIREmENTS: Wisdom 12, Charisma 15PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaALIGNMENT: NWEAPONS: Club, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, scimitar, sling, staffARMOR: Padded, leather, or hide and wooden, hone, shell or

other nonmetallic shieldMAJOR SPHERES: All, animal, elemental, healing, plant, protection, time,

ward, weatherMINOR SPHERES: Divination, travelersMAGICAL ITEMS: A s d r u i dREQ. PROFS: Agriculture, herbalismBONuS PROFS: Survival (pick type); modern language (pick two from:

brownie, dryad, elvish, korred, nymph, Pegasus, pixie,satyr, sprite, sylph, treant, unicorn)

All specialty priests of Chauntea are druids. Their abilities and restrictions,aside from changes noted above, are summarized in Appendix 1: PriestClasses and detailed in full in the Player’s Handbook.

Favor of the Goddess (Alteration, Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: PlantRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: Two plants, vegetables, or pieces of fruit/levelSaving Throw: NoneThis spell confers instant fertility to plants or doubles the yield of already-mature, growing plants. For example, picked fruits in a basket swell to twicetheir former size when this spell is cast on them. Tainted, diseased, spoiled,or poisoned plants are rendered wholesome by this spell, but plants natu-rally harmful to humans are not made safe. Affected plants seem to glowwith life and goodness, and their dramatic increase in volume can breakopen containers if the chosen produce has strength enough. For instance,cucumbers would burst open a crate or barrel, but tomatoes would explodebefore such containers gave way. This spell can only affect a plant, veg-etable, or piece of fruit once. Further castings are ineffective.

Phantom Plow (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental EarthRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell turns aside the earth in a deep furrow in a straight line as indi-cated by the caster that extends from next to the caster’s feet (or beneaththe caster, if the caster is not touching the ground) to a distance of 20 feetper level. The furrow stops if it encounters consecrated ground, and it doesnot form at all if the intended path lies entirely within consecrated ground.It causes all earth bearing an active or latent dweomer that it touches toglow with a brilliant crimson faerie fire for 1d4+1 rounds.

If used as a weapon, it spills all creatures standing on the ground inwhich the furrow opens into an unavoidable fall and inflicts ld4 points ofdamage. A successful saving throw vs. spell results in their taking only halfdamage. Affected creatures must make successful saving throws vs. fall forall glass or crystal items they wear or carry, or the items break. Creaturesburled, burrowing, or in phase in the earth suffer 4d4 points of damage fromthe contact of a phantom plow and receive no saving throw to mitigate thiseffect. If a furrow is directed against a wall, it stops, but it strikes the wall asa ram does. (Refer to Table 52: Structural Saving Throws in the DUNGEON

MASTER Guide.)

Plant Lance (Alteration)Sphere: PlantRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 4 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: SpecialSavmg Throw: NoneThis spell transforms one entire plant per level of the caster into an ani-mated, flying spear that flies to attack as the caster directs. The plants trans-formed can be of any sort, from clumps of moss or lichen to towering trees,but they must be alive for the spell to work. They are consumed by the spell.The spears can operate only within spell range and fly at MV 27 (A).

When the flying spears reach their target, they strike at THAC0 8 for3d4 points of damage each. They wither and vanish whenever either theirtarget dies or the spell expires, depending on which option is elected bythe spellcaster at the time of casting. Otherwise, they move with and strikeat their target once per round for the duration of the spell without any at-tention from the caster, who is free to work other magic or engage in otheractivities without affecting the plant lances. The spears remain categorizedas living plants until they wither at the end of the spell’s duration and socan be affected by magic that works on plants. They count as magica1weapons +1 for purposes of striking creatures that can only be damaged bymagical weapons.

The material components of the spell are the plants. Note that if insuf-ficient plants are growing within range, the caster cannot generate themaximum number of spears that the spell affords.

7th LevelConjure Nature Elemental (Conjuration/Summoning) ReversibleSphere: Elemental Earth, Air, Fire, Water; Plant; SummoningRange: 100 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: Special or 24 hoursCasting Time:Area of Effect:Saving Throw:

1 turn1 mileNone

Upon the casting of this spell, the caster opens a direct link with Chaunteaand a portion of her essence forms a nature elemental (detailed in theMONSTROUS COMPENDIUM booklet in the Ruins of Zhentil Keep boxed set)from the uncivilized and uncultivated portions of the priest’s current sur-roundings. This spell is only granted by Chauntea deliberately to her clergymembers after great consideration upon the damage it will inflict when used.(The only other church known to be able to cast a parallel form of this spellis that of Rillifane Rallithil, and he has refused its usage for over a century.)

Unless the caster is 17th level or higher, she or he must make a savingthrow vs. breath weapon. If the saving throw fails, the caster provides thespirit portion of the elemental’s essence (it is composed of earth, air, fire,water, and spirit) and departs the Prime Material Plane when the elementaldisperses at the end of the spell’s duration. The caster is then dead, but his orher body remains intact (it is, oddly, not restructured like the environment)and may be raised or resurrected.

Priests must be above 17th level to inscribe this spell onto a scroll, andthen only someone who is in touch with nature (druids, clerics or specialtypriests of nature powers, or rangers above 5th level) can read the scroll.When reading from a scroll, a caster does not need to make a saving throw.

Nature elementals are summoned to return the spell’s area of effect to anuncultivated state. All signs of civilization and all humans or humanoidswithin the area of effect are obliterated. The only people immune to the el-emental’s fury are the caster and up to 10 people per the caster’s level withina 100-yard-radius who are designated upon casting the spell. The elementaldisperses into its environmental components when a 1-mile radius is reno-vated or after 24 hours, whichever occurs first.

Unlike other elementals, nature elementals cannot be controlled. Theirduties and the area in which they are to perform them are set at their sum-moning. If the area a nature elemental is summoned into is free of signs ofcivilization, the creature disperses. Nature elementals are not affected byprotection from evil spells and like magics intended to hold at bay extraplanarcreatures.

The reverse of this spelt, dismiss nature elemental, disperses a summonednature elemental.

The material components for this spell are burning incense, soft clay, sul-fur, phosphorus, water, sand, anda duly consecrated holy symbol.

Sanctify Sacred Site (Abjuration, Alteration)Sphere: All, Sun, PlantRange: SpecialComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: From sunrise to sunset

Area of Effect: One defiled holy siteSaving Throw: NoneThis spell was developed in ancient times by druids of the Earthmother onthe Moonshae Isles as is a variant of the sunray spell. Long forgotten, it wasrediscovered through the research efforts of the wizard Flamsterd and the

druids of the Moonshaes following the destruction of the Risen Cult of Baneby a small company of Harpers several years after the Time of Troubles. Thedruids employed this spell to mitigate the destruction inflicted by thecultists’ moonveil spell, but it has additional powers as well.

A sanctify sacred site spell takes nearly a full day to cast; it begins at dawnand ends at sunset. It is cast upon on a site sacred to Chauntea such as a sa-cred grove, moonwell, or graveyard of her followers that has been defiled bythe forces of evil. The ritual of casting the spell involves chanting, dancingsolemnly about the entire site, and the sacrifice of tokens of the goddess’sbounty (the material components).

Sanctify sacred site is a form of faith magic that purifies corruption and evilfrom the land. It must be preceded by the casting of focus (a 4th-level priestspell). The base percentage of success is equal to the level of the priest who

casts the spell. For every five true worshipers of Chauntea of any race whoparticipate in the ritual as long as they are able (all day, or until death ortotal exhaustion), whether they be human, elf, korred, or faerie dragon, thechances of this spell succeeding in purifying a defiled sacred site are In-creased by 1%. Success is checked for at the moment of sunset. The chanceof this spell succeeding is increased by 25% if it is performed on Midwinteror the vernal or autumnal equinoxes. If performed on Midsummer, thechance is increased by 40%.

If the spell succeeds, a dazzling beam of light erupts from the ground orwater at the center of the sacred site to be sanctified. This beam has all theeffects of a sunray (the 7th-level priest spell) on any creatures of evil presentwithin a 1-mile radius of the light, whether they be on the ground, in the air,or beneath the earth. Any defiling magic in effect on the sacred site, such asmoonveil spell, is permanently dispelled, and any magical powers of the sitelost to the defiling magic will slowly return if the faithful maintain their wor-ship of Chauntea at the site.

The material components for this spell are varied and difficult to procuresimultaneously. The goddess requires a spring sapling covered with dew to beplanted, a summer swan halfway between the gosling and adult stage to bereleased, a bushel of fresh fall harvest to be consumed, and ice crystals fromthe first winter frost to be placed at the center of the site.

Cyric(Prince of Lies, Prince of Madness, the Dark Sun,the Black Sun, the Mad God, Lord of Three Crowns)Greater Power of Pandemonium, CEPORTFOLIO: Murder, strife, lies, intrigue, deception, illusionALIASES: Leira, N’asr (Anauroch, among the Bedine), Bane,

Bhaal, Myrkul, Cyruk (among ex-Myrkulytes)DOMAIN NAME: Cocytus/Shattered CastleSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: NoneFOES: Mystra, Kelemvor, Oghma, Azuth, Mask, Tyr, Torm,

Deneir, Leira, Iyachtu Xvim, and many othersSYMBOL: A white skull (sans jawbone) on a dark purple or black

sunburstWOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE

Cyric (SEER-ick) is a god born of the events of theTime of Troubles. He gained the followers and port-folios of many old evil gods and fights to retainthem. His power base is immense, and he is one ofthe three greater powers of evil in Faerûn. The de-struction of Zhentil Keep, along with many of therest of the woes of Faerûn, may be laid at his feet. Inan attempt to further enhance his own power, Cyric

created the Cyrinishad, a book that is enchanted to bind the reader slavishlyto believing that Cyric is the most important being in the universe, exceed-ing all others. Cyric made the serious error of reading his own book and isnow mad, believing that he himself is the center of the universe and every-thing that occurs is by his direct intervention.

Cyric’s madness has taken a number of forms, including visions and acontinual chorus of voices that burble and moan in the back of his mind.These voices may he parts of Cyric’s own shattered consciousness or theymay be the remains of the gods that Cyric slew or usurped the portfolios of.

Cyric is petty, megalomaniacal, and totally self-centered. He enjoys trick-ing and misleading both well-meaning and corrupt individuals and then re-vealing his deceit when they have made some fatal mistake in judgment ortaken a personally devastating action that will ruin their lives. His favoritelibation is the tears of disillusioned dreamers and broken-hearted lovers,which he drinks from a silver chalice encrusted with tiny rubies in the shapeof sundered hearts.

Cyric hates the other gods, especially Mystra and Kelemvor, but believcsthey are his puppets, easily fooled and defeated, existing only on his whim.Due to the consequences of his creation of the Cyrinishad, Cyric abandonedthe portfolio of death and the dead to Kelemvor and lost the portfolio oftyranny to Iyachtu Xvim, the Godson of Bane.

Cyric uses his new, twisted, ever-changing home in Pandemonium, theShattered Keep (Cyric refers to it as the “Castle of the Supreme Throne”). asa base for his future plans for the Realms. Such plans have thus far met vary-ing degrees of success, but Cyric believes that the results are as he himselfhas declared—since he is the most powerful being in the universe.

Cyric�s Avatar (Thief 35, Mage 21, Cleric 20, Fighter 8)Cyric is seldom seen on Faerûn but most often has appeared as a slim manwith blazing dark eyes and chalk-white skin who speaks caustically and sar-castically, and acts duplicitously but with firm purpose�save when helaughs wildly or discusses possible courses of action with himself in differentvoices in obvious insaity. He believes himself Master of All and often un-derestimates opponents because he simply cannot comprehend that theywill not instantly fall before him. He was aptly described by one now-deadobserver as �a babbling madman who nonetheless remains dangerouslyvengeful and capable.� He uses spells from any sphere or school, but refusesto have his avatar raise dead, reincarnate, or resurrect anyone. Illusion/phan-tasm spells cast by Cyric are at triple normal effect and a -3 penalty to sav-ing throws (if any saving throw is normally allowed).

AC -6; MV 15; HP 204; THAC0 3; #AT 2/1Dmg 1d8+16 (long sword +3, +11 Str, +2 spec. bonus in long swordMR 70%; SZ L (10 feet)Str 23; Dex 21, Con 21 Int 17, Wis 16, Cha 21Spells P: 11/11/9/8/7/5/2/, W: 5/5/5/5/5/4/4/4/2Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp4

Special Att/Def: Cyric used a rose-red intelligent sword named Gods-bane for a long time, broke Godsbane at the height of the Cyrinishad de-bacle, at which time it become obvious that Godsbane had merely been anavatar form of the god Mask. Now Cyric uses a long sword +3 with no appar-ent special powers. Cyric can alter his appearance to that of any person,creature, or deity almost instantly. He can instill madness with a touch of hishand as the 5th-level wizard spell feeblemind, hut his victims receive no Wis-dom adjustments and a -3 penalty to their saving throw vs. spell to avoid theeffect. He is unaffected by illusion/phantasm spells or illusionary effects ofany kind, yet he seems, at times, to perceive illusions that no one else hascaused. He is also unaffected by fear and emotion-affecting magic or bycharm -type magics and spella, as he is so self-absorbed that nothing else canhold his attention or trouble his emotions. Undead creatures will act neitherfor him nor against him, igoring his presence, though he can create themthrough the normaland defenses (under

methods. Cyrics avatar also has all thethat heading) that Leira�s avatar had.

special attacks

Other ManifestationsCyric prefers to haunt the dreams of his worshipers as a bloody wraith ormanifest as a cloud of poisonous smoke before his enemies rather than send-ing an avatar. He sometimes manifests as a sudden gloom containing thephantom images of whlrlmg human skulls-and the dark, intent gaze of twoblack eyes. At other times he sends nightmares or various undead creaturesto do his bidding or show his favor or displeasure. Cyric is not above mas-querading: as another deity to gain the worship of mortals and the power de-rived from that worship.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusadersCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: Yes, Cru: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and crusaders of Cyric receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapn proficiency.

Cyric�s faith attracts power, and it remains strong in any area where evilis planned and beings seek to impress their will on others. Cyric�s most de-voted followers are young evil men and women seeking to make their way inan uncertain world and gathering as much power as possible for themselves.He also attracts the worship of almost all who pursue assassination for a liv-ing, though most of them are new to that profession, considering the demiseof all Faerûnian assassins during the Tune of Troubles.

The church of Cyric benefited from a decade of growth and consolida-tion before the events that drove its god mad. The church absorbed a greatmany of the worshipers of Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul, and even the (still-hushed) revelation of the demise of Leira swelled its ranks.

The true priests of the Dark Sun Cyric (�the Sworn,� as they call them-selves) are few in number, but growing. Cyric is also still granting spells to afew, of the priests of the gods he supplanted after the Tune of Troubles in anattempt to maintain these priests� powers long enough to convert them.This strategy worked well for the Bhaalist and Myrkulyte clergy, who had al-most all converted before the recent destruction of Zhentil Keep once moreshook up the Faerûnian pantheon. The Banite priests remained stubbornand the Cyricist church finally solved the problem of Bane in Zhentil Keepwith a purge, known as the Banedeath, that led to the death or forced con-

version of all Banites in Zhentil Keep (driving any survivors underground).This purge tactic was being initiated all over Faerûn when the Keep fell

and Kelemvor and Iyachtu Xvim were catapulted to prominence in theFaerûnian pantheon. At this point, Cyric lost most ex-Myrkulyte priests toKelemvor and almost all unconverted Banite priests to Xvim. Feuds and in-ternal strife are rampant among the now-integrated Myrkulytes, Bhaalists,and Banites and the true priests of Cyric (those who entered the churchafter Cyric�s ascension), as the ambitious, ruthless clergy members all seekto win ever-higher ranks within the still-unsettled priesthood. To thesepeople, personal power-and its use upon others-is everything. Trust isnot in great supply among adherents of the Dark Sun.

Cyric, though now a few monks shy of a monastery, remains closely In-volved with the upper ranks of his clergy. His high priests are expected tocarry out his orders, regardless of how dangerous or odd they may seem. Somepriests carry out their tasks as enthusiastically as they had before. Others seekto obey the letter of any directives while changing the spirit of them.

The priesthood is still very much in flux. Its members employ a wide va-riety of titles and dispute each other�s rank often. Members of the clergy arealways aware of the possibility that a superior may stumble, allowing themto advance. Priests are often encouraged by inner voices that may or maynot he the voice of their deity. Popular priestly titles seem to include DarkMaster, Hand of Cyric, Watchful Skull, and Dread Death.

Dogma: Cyric�s faith is one of control by any means necessary. Forceand deception are used in equal measure to spread his word. He (or themasks he wears) is highly venerated by those of black hearts and evil deeds,from petty murderers to evil rulers of empires.

Cyricist priests are given the following charge: �Death to traitors. Deathto all who oppose Cyric. Bow down before the supreme power of Cyric, andyield to him the blood of all who do not believe in his supreme power.

�Fear and obey those in authority�but if they are weak or given to pur-suing airy goals of vague goodness, slay them in the name of the Dark Sun.Battle against all clergy of other faiths, for they are false prophets and forceswho oppose the One True Way.

�Bring death to those who oppose the rightful church of Cyric and thosewho seek to make or keep peace, order, and laws. All rightful authoritycomes from Cyric, and all other authority must he subverted.

�Break not into open rebellion, for when hosts march, all faiths and godsawaken. It is better by far to fell one foe at a time and keep all folk afraid,uneasy, in constant strife�and under the spreading tyranny of Cyric.�

Cyric�s abandonment of the portfolio of death and the dead that he hadfollowing the Time of Troubles has freed him to embrace much of wherehis true heart lies�treachery, deception, and strife. Random violence isnever as good as violence that serves some greater, more dangerous pur-pose. Plans and counterplans can twist and turn on themselves, such thata defeat in one area can bring overall victory for the Dark Sun. Anymeans, any method, any sacrifice or treachery is allowed if it brings aboutthe desired end.

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of the Dark Sun are pledged to spreadstrife and work murder everywhere in order to make talk fear and believe inCyric. They support rulers with a taste for cruelty and empire-building, butindulge in intrigue in every land so as to spread strife everywhere withoutplunging realms into widespread war and thus giving worship only to Tem-pus the war god.

At least, this is what Cyricists pay lip service to doing. In truth, Cyricistsspend most of their time scheming against each other in an endless struggleof cabal against cabal, with each priest striving to strengthen his, or her ownpersonal power. In addition, Cyric speaks often to his faithful clergy, butnot with one voice. They all fear him and must believe what he tells themeach is the One True Way, but what he says often sets different churches atcross-purposes and different Cyricist priests at each other�s throats as muchas it promotes the defeat of other religions.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Cyric as yet has established fewholy days. Until the destruction of Zhentll Keep, the final day and night ofMarpenoth was observed as a holy day in celebration of the Banedeath, thepurge that ensured Cyric�s total victory over the persistent worship of Banewithin Zhentil Keep. After the Keep�s destruction, that holy day suddenlyceased to be observed, and all mention of it has heen upped from officialchurch records.

Cyric�s church does not celebrate the anniversary of his ascension to DM-vine status as this also marks the anniversary of Midnight�s ascension (andCyric hates her). In addition, church histories now note that Cyric has al-ways been divine, and therefore his ascension would be illogical to cele-brate, although the history of Cyric�s noble efforts to regain the Tablets ofFate as a mortal are also a part of church canon. The obvious contradiction

of speaking of Cyric’s mortal life while maintainingnot allowed to trouble the minds of Cyric’s faithful.

his eternaldivinity is

Blood sacrifices are deemed necessary for Cyric to hear any prayers ofentreaty. Local priests usually declare an impromptu Day of the Dark Sun(a high holy day) whenever they acquire something (or someone) deemedimportant enough to sacrifice to Cyric.

Major Centers of Worship: Zhentil Keep was the mightiest seat ofCyricism until its destruction at the end of 1368 DR. No new major cen-ters for Cyricism have emerged since its destruction. Most observers ex-pect one of the three new temples recently erected in Amn to become themightiest seat of power among followers of the Mad God if they do not de-stroy each other in the rivalries inevitably to come.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Cyric does not sponsor any knightlyorders. Cyric has ordered the establishment of a fighting order, the Com-pany of the Ebon Spur, but the order has found no leader yet. The twopriests in charge of establishing admission standards into the order (twohigh-ranking priests in two of the emerging Amnian temples) cannotagree on what those standards should be and are engaged in intricateplots to kill each other off, since each is convinced he is right. SinceCyric appeared to each of them ina vision and gave them precisea n dcontradictory instructions as to theestablishment of the order, he isevi-dently pleased with their efforts. When the order finally does get off theground, Cyricist crusaders will lead fighters against rival churches for theglory of Cyric.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Cyric dress in black or dark purplerobes. with or without hoods, trimmed with silver. Silver bracers orbracelets (usually adorned with the stamped skull-and-starburst symbol ofCyric) are worn on the wrists to symbolize the priesthood’s enslavement toCyric (in a symbolic reprise of Cyric’s one-time captivity), and somepriests paint the symbol of their deity on their cheeks or foreheads on highholy days.

Adventuring Garb: Priests of Cyric are fond of going about in disguiseand love using illusions that alter their appearance when they can obtainthem. They dress either to be inconspicuous or to impress, awe, and terrify,depending on what they are assigned to do. Whenever they are in disguiseor trying to look inconspicuous, they still attempt to wear as much protec-tive armor or magic as possible without it giving them away. When dress-ing to terrify, they love black armor with ornamentation that looks men-acing, such as spiked shoulder and elbow pieces and helms in the shape ofsnarling monsters.

Specialty Priests (Strifeleaders)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 13, Wisdom 13PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomALIGNMENT: NE, CEWEAPONS: All bludgeoning weapons and long swordsARMOR: AnyM AJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, charm, combat, guardian, healing, necro-

mantic, summoning, sun, time, war, weatherMINOR SPHERES: Divination, elemental, numbers, protectionMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Two modern languagesBONUS PROFS: Disguise, ventriloquisml St r i fe leaders ga in a +1 to sav ing th rows aga ins t spe l l s us ing

illusion/phantasm magic.l Strifeleaders are unaffected by fear spells and other emotion-altering

magic. They can still be charmed and are subject to enchantment/charmspells in general, provided those spells have no direct effect on theemotions.

l At 3rd level, strifeleaders are able to cast black talon (as the 2nd-levelpriest spell) once a day.

l At 5th level, strifeleaders can summon an aerial servant (as per the6th-level priest spell aerial servant). This servant will fight for the strife-leader (contrary to normal restrictions on the spell) and can act as amagical assassin. Only one aerial servant may be summoned per month(30 days), and only one may he controlled at a time.

l At 7th level, strifeleaders are able to create a dark aura or a skull of se-crete (as the 4th-level priest spells) once a day.

l At 10th level, strifeleaders are able to cast phantasmal killer (as the 4th-level wizard spell) once a tenday.

l At 15th level, strifeleaders may instill madness. This ability is similarto the feeblemind 5th-level wizard spell, with the exception that noWisdom adjustments arc made to the saving throw, and the strifeleadermust touch his or her target.

Cyricist Spells

2nd LevelBlack Talon (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One of the caster’s armsSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell temporarily transforms the caster’s arm into a retractable, rubberyappendage that she or he can extend up to 10 feet and use to strike at foeswith at +1 bonus to normal attack rolls. The arm ends in a taloned claw thatrakes foes for 1d4 points of physical damage plus 1d4 points of unearthly mag-ical cold damage (2d4 points total) on a successful attack. Undead creaturesare unaffected by this chilling damage. Victims are allowed a saving throw vs.spell to take only half of the chilling damage. While his or her arm is trans-formed, the priest is unable to work spells involving somatic components.

4th LevelDark Aura (Alteration, Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: A sphere of 20 feet in diameter/level of casterSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a spherical miasma of gloom and menace centered on thecaster. Within this area of visible (but not vision-clouding) dimness, all evil-aligned beings attack at a +1 bonus to their attack and damage rolls, allgood-aligned creatures strike at a -1 penalty to their attack and damagerolls, and the caster is personally empowered to strike at a +3 bonus to his orher attack and damage rolls. Neutral-aligned beings (with respect to goodand evil) are unaffected by this spell. Once cast, the spell moves with thecaster and does not need to be concentrated on to be maintained. (Notethat the caster receives the bonuses conferred by the dark aura wheneverthey are relevant in subsequent spells employed by the caster also.)

If a good-aligned creature within the aura succeeds at a saving throw vs.spell at a -2 penalty, she or he escapes the detrimental effects of the aura forthe current round. Good creatures may attempt this saving throw everyround, whether or not they succeeded on a previous round. (Breaking free ofthe cloud’s effects on one round does not mean one has overcome it for alllater rounds.) The spell outlines all good-aligned beings within it in amber(lawful), orange (neutral), or scarlet (chaotic) auras that serve only to iden-tify their alignment and do no harm. The spherical field of a dark aura ex-tends through walls and the like, retaining its spherical shape at all times.

Skull of Secrets (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: GuardianRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: VariesCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates the intangible image of a floating skull trailing blackflames. The skull appears to have eyes of flame, but neither its eyes nor itstail of flames are real, and they cannot burn or harm anything. It floatswithin a 20-foot-diameter sphere, drifting about at MV 18 (A). Dispel magicdestroys it, but it cannot otherwise be touched or harmed.

The skull delivers a verbal message of 22 word, or fewer (which cannotbe an incantation that launches a spell)and spits a tongue of real flame. Themessage to be spoken is spoken by the caster when the spell is cast. Theflame is a cone of magical fire l-foot in diameter at its wide end and 10 feetin length, whose touch deals 3d4 points of damage to exposed flesh andreadily ignites all flammables.

Both the message-speaking and the fiery “breath”occur when complexand specific conditions set during the casting are fulfilled; these trigger con-ditions are similar to those set up by wizards in the casting of magic mouthspells. The message and the flame can have the same or a quite different setof fulfillment conditions. When both actions are performed, the image ofthe skull slowly fades away.

This spell is usually employed to ignite funerary pyres and to set afire foesof the faith; its visible form serves to dupe the faithful into thinking thatCyric is personally manifest at an event.

7th LevelCreate Direguard (Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: 1 skeletal bodySaving Throw: NoneThe casting of this spell transforms one inanimate skeleton of size M orsmaller into a direguard, a skeletal figure with red flames in its eye sockets,wearing black, shadowy, semitransparent armor. (For information on dire-guards, see the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM sheets included in the revisedFORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting.) The direguard is capable of usingits abilities the round following creation and needs no special commandsto attack.

The material components of this spell are the holy symbol of the priest,which is not consumed in the casting of the spell, and at least 20 drops of theblood of any sort of true dragon.

Deneir(Lord of All Glyphs and Images, the Scribes of Oghma)Lesser Power of the Beastlands, NGPORTFOLIO: Glyphs, images, literature, literacy, scribes, pictorial and

literary art, cartographyALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Brux/Library of All KnowledgeSUPERIOR: OghmaALLIES: Oghma, Azuth, Milil, Mystra, Lliira, LathanderFOES: Cyric, Bane (now dead), Malar, Talos, MaskSYMBOL: A single candle set above a staring purple human eye

with a triangular pupil, or a single lit candleWOR. ALIGN.: A n y

Deneir (Deh-NEER) is the patron of the artist, theilluminator, the scribe, and the cartographer. His isthe power to accurately render and describe, to writeand to read, and to pass on information. He counts ashis foes all who destroy, hide, or distort knowledge.He works for Oghma making sure that all that isknown and true is accurately recorded in the GreatLibrary. He is portrayed in religious art as a balding

old sage with a huge,flared heard whose eyes are in some way peculiar:Sometimes they are a vibrant violet with triangular pupils, at other timesthey are a brilliant ice blue, and at yet others they are blazing orbs of bluefire. He is always shown holding a quill pen and carrying or writing in or ona book, scroll, or parchment.

Deneir is caught up in the recording, filing, indexing and maintaining ofall that was ever written or depicted. He can appear very absent-minded,and often trails off in midsentence because his mind is racing along othertrails of thought even as he speaks. For all his acquaintance with bookknowledge, he can be out of touch with the world as it is now—in particular,human customs in practice: He tends to use mannerisms of speech and holdto points of etiquette that disappeared long ago from Faerûn—or he may(unintentionally humorously) mix his slang terms or try to sound in vogueand actually sound profoundly dated. When he gets going on a story, he caneat up immense amounts of his listeners’ time as he diverges seemingly end-lessly in parenthetical substories. For all their length, his tales always conveysome vital piece of knowledge to those who wait them out.

Deneir�s Avatar (Mage 28, Cleric 27)Deneir most often appears as an old, balding sage with a huge flaring whitebeard and eyes of intense blue or violet (though he has been known to ap-pear younger, especially when in disguise). His voluminous robes are coveredin glyphs and symbols that seem to serve as some sort of code to remind himof events and pieces of information, but which cause random effects (someas standard glyphs and symbols, some bizarre miscellaneous spell effects or justodd happenings) to any who touch them. He usually carries quill pens,scrolls, and tomes, and may let some of these fall and be left behind. (Thisappears to happen accidentally, but in fact always occurs on purpose.) Mor-

tals who recover such things find them to be enchanted pens, spell scrolls,tomes of magical power, or instructions for creating magical items or con-structs. He can draw his spells from any school or sphere of magic, but out oflong habit he tries never to use fire magic because valuable writings might hedestroyed.

AC -3; MV 15; HP 171; THAC0 4; #AT 1Dmg 1d10MR 70%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 15, DEX 19, CON 21, INT 24, WIS 22, CHA 16Spells P: 12/12/12/12/11/9/5, W: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: When attacked, Deneir’s first action is usually to leaveby the most expeditious means. If forced into a situation where he cannotleave, Deneir can employ any one priest spell and any one wizard spell in thesame round, or he can summon a scroll from thin air with whatever spell hedesires written on it and then read the spell as his action for a round. Thosewho have seen him agree that he lacksgic sense of one used to battle, and inattacked. His touch causesdesires (no saving throw).

the wariness, ruthlessness, and strate-fact seems absentminded even when

confusion as the 4th-level wizard spell when he so

Instead of casting spells or summoning a scroll, Deneir can choose tomake a being once more experience the worst glyph or symbol damage that itever experienced. The same saving throw modifiers that applied when theglyph or symbol was originally encountered apply again.

Deneir cannot be harmed by any spell read from a scroll or any magicaleffect created by the use of a hook or tome. He is immune to charm or illu-sion/phantasm spells, spell-like effects, and abilities.

Other ManifestationsDeneir prefers to manifest as a glowing nimbus of light around a hook. If amortal opens the hook, Deneir may move the radiance about to indicatethings. He maytend a glowing,

telekinese the book and other nearby objects about or ex-humanlike hand out of the light to cast spells, to wield or

carry things, or to point and gesture. When appearing as this nimbus, Deneirrarely speaks, though he sometimes writes with silent letters of fire in midairor in a mortal’s mind, causing actual letters to he written on nothingness.Deneir also manifests his approval or disapproval or aids his followersthrough the actions or appearance of baku holy ones, einheriar formed fromthe essences of great sages (and thus as warriors a rather fumbling lot—butgreat storehouses of knowledge), light aasimons, movanic devas, planetars,wisdom Incarnates, calico cats, white dogs with golden eyes, pinto andpiebald horses, candles, quill pens and writing brushes,gold- or yellow-col-ored flowers, topazes, iolites, tourmalines, and star sapphires.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, monksCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Mon: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mon: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and monks of Deneir receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All these priests of Deneir must takereading/writing (any languages) as a nonweapon proficiency and are encour-aged to learn to read and write more than just one tongue.

Priests of Deneir are found throughout Faerûn, as are shrines and templesin Deneir’s name. Most of the temples of Deneir could best be described aslibraries with attached sanctuaries and living quarters, for the preservationof written knowledge is the focus of Deneir’s faith.

Clergy members are known as Deneirrath. Only about 15% of clergymembers are specialty priests. However, specialty priests occupy all the highpositions within the church hierarchy. Clerics and monks are welcome, buteven if they attain high levels, they are not usually awarded the leadership oftemples. Monks may be promoted to the head of an abbey or monastery;however, they are always attached to a temple and rank beneath its highpriest. As a result, there is some grumbling among nonspecialty clergy mem-hers of the faith, and many turn to adventuring to give them advancementin other areas

Though females are as welcome as males in the Deneirrath hierarchy, thetitle “Priest” is used regardless of the gender of its holder. (The word “priest-ess” is something for other faiths.) The color of the cloaks priests of Deneirwear denotes their ranks, which are (in ascending order): Applicant, Under-priest, Aspirant Priest, Full Priest, Priest Illuminator, Priest Calligrapher,Priest Editor, Priest Secretary, Priest Librarian, Aspirant Scrivener, FullScrivener, and High Scrivener (the leader of a temple). The only higher

ranks than these are granted personally by Deneir and consist of Writer In-quisitor (used by the most powerful and accomplished traveling adventurersof the faith), Librarian, and High Librarian.

Dogma: Followers of Deneir believe that information that is notrecorded and saved to be used later is information that is lost. Anyone whodefaces or destroys a book should be punished in proportion to the value ofthe information lost unless she or he makes full replacement of it. Deneir-rath must write everything down and let copying what is written fill everyotherwise idle hour. They are to bring copies of every writing they gather toevery temple of Deneir they arrive in (or make the copies there) so thatknowledge may spread and nothing be lost.

Information should be free to all and all should be able to read it, so thatlying tongues cannot distort things all out of proportion. Deneirrath are towrite down all that people say, believe, and observe, leaving others to judgewhat is true, of value, and proper�for that which is not written is lost, andthere must be room for all tastes, all tongues, and all expression. Informationthat does not harm should be made free to all.

Literacy is an important gift of Deneir and should be spread and taught.Deneirrath must learn to read and write and teach at least 10 mortals whodo not venerate Deneir to do so also, so that such learning spreads.

Followers of Deneir have taken an oath of charity as well, such that theycannot turn down the request of another to write letters and transcribe in-formation. If the one making the request is needy, they can take no paymentfor doing such duties, though they may charge those who can afford such ser-vices a fair rate. Deneirrath are to keep secrets they are exposed to in theircharitable duties when bound to by oath or by their moral code.

Day-to-Day Activities: The primary task of priests of Deneir is togather and write down-or copy out if it is already written�knowledge andcreative things (fiction, poems, song lyrics, witticisms, and diaries) so thatnothing written is lost. Some priests never leave the copying cloisters oflarge temples, while others wander among cottages and hill farms copyingout old half-remembered ballads that they can pay some toothless gray-hairto try to sing. Still others operate wealthy lending libraries in the bustlingcities of Sembia or ride into danger all over Faerûn breaking into old tombsand delving into ruins in search of lost and forgotten writings before suchthings crumble away forever. These are the sort of deeds that have earnedDeneir his nickname �Scribe of Oghma.�

Many common folk through the Realms, however, see Deneirrath as thescribes of the people because they take a special vow of charity upon becom-ing priests: to write letters and transcribe information for anyone who asksthem to as long they do not have to copy out anything magical (mainly fortheir own safety) or write down anything from their own knowledge thatwould reveal the secrets of others. (A priest of Deneir imprisoned and orderedto list all the literate people in his town or list all those for whom he�s draftedletters on matters of finance in the last decade would refuse to do so.) Thepoor receive such services for free, the average commoner in return for theprice of the paper and inks plus a single silver piece, and wealthier petitionerspay the going rates. These rates are often as much as 4 gp a page for simpletext and double that and more for fairly simple illuminated writings. Largeprojects must be negotiated, but in slow times, priests of Deneir can be foundin the local commons and bars, writing letters for those unable to do so.

Real wealth can be gained, however, by a priest asked to write somethingin strictest confidence�for the Price of the Silent Scribe can be steep, witha third going to the priest and two-thirds to the nearest temple of Deneir.�Strictest confidence� means that no one outside the faith ever hears orreads of what the priest has been enjoined to silence on. The rumors of se-cret writings being written down and kept in secret libraries kept by theDeneirrath are true. These secret libraries may be anything from secret pas-sages in temple offices and hollow pillars in shrines to great vaults and even�forbidden towers� in the larger abbeys and monasteries. Deneirrath cachesof secret writings are always guarded by spells and usually also by monstersthat range from watchspiders to watchghosts. Magical writings are alwayskept secret from outsiders. Deneirrath never admit that their senior priestsdo, in fact, copy out spells and make some of the scrolls that temples havebeen known to sell to adventurers, nobles, and wealthy merchants.

Educating others to read and write is another important task for theclergy of Deneir for which only nominal fees are charged. The temples andabbeys of the faith, however, charge stiff fees to train nonbelievers to beskilled scribes, limners (artists), illuminators, bookbinders, and parchment-makers.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The only holy day that sees spe-cial ceremonies in the church of Deneir is the Shieldmeet, wherein copies ofold contracts are taken out for public viewing and any mortal may ask to seea copy of any (nonmagical) writing in any temple of Deneir to which she or

he can travel. Such records and writings must be specifically requested, how-ever (not �every contract written by Duke Teranzan�), and must not violatethe vows of confidentiality of the temple. Shieldmeet is the day on whichthe Gilding is observed: a rite in which priests gather in a great circle arounda levitated manuscript and cast special spells, each of which impresses asingle golden letter onto the page, to set forth the Words of Deneir in largeletters for public display in days to come. (It is the duty of junior Deneirrathto hunt down and punish thieves who tear off or scrape at letters trying toget the meager gold.)

This is not to say that Deneirrath do not observe complex rituals. Theydo on a daily basis. These many ceremonies include chants, sung prayers,and responsive readings as well as private, personal prayers. Certain oldpriests utter a prayer with every illuminated letter they commence and againwhen they complete it�or whenever they first make a mark upon a virginpage. Most Deneirrath pray to their deity when they undertake a major tasksuch as copying out a noble family tree, making a map, or copying out a min-strel�s chapbook of ballads for sale in the larger, more sophisticated cities ofthe Realms.

Major Centers of Worship: Iron Dragon Mountain, a hidden, leg-endary peak in the Earthfast Mountains, is the site of the Master�s Libraryin Faerûn, a complex of many caverns where more books than anywhereelse in all the Realms�even Candlekeep, the Library of Curna in theCurna Mountains, and the great libraries of Shou Lung�are stored. Herecan be found the High Librarians, who have samples of all known writtentongues and can read them (even dragon writings). Sixty or so High Librar-ians�said to all be bearded, balding, shuffling men of great age-are said tolive here. Their leader is the Librarian Supreme Haliduth Orspriir, a vigor-ous man who has lived some 600 years by the grace of Deneir. He can callon eight mature adult to great wyrm mist dragons who lair in various nearbypeaks to defend the Library from attack. All devout Deneirrath undertake apilgrimage to the Master's Library at least once in their lives, but mostnever get beyond the Reading Room, a small fastness well to the south ofthe true e temple, where a kindly old female Keeper (assisted and guarded byloyal watchghosts) makes use of a secret gate (usable only by nonliving mat-ter) to send notes to the Master's Library requesting specific texts and to re-ceive copies of the requested writings to hand to the faithful.

The treasured collections of Silverymoon, the artifact museums of Cal-imshan, and Twilight Hall in Berdusk are all important regional centers ofDeneir�s worship. The Edificant Library, administered jointly by the clergyof Deneir and Oghma and located in the Snowflake Mountains northwestof Carradoon, was another prominent regional temple before its destruc-tion in the Year of the Helm (1362 DR). A magnificent cathedral to Deneirknown as the Soaring Spirit has since been built on the spot by HighScrivener Cadderly and is quickly becoming the premier center of learningand worship of the Lord of Glyphs and Images in western Faerûn.

trustworthy belong to the Literate Brotherhood and wear a pin or badge de-picting a white quill with a gold nib. The monastic orders include the Pre-

holy quests and pursues money-making efforts for the church.

Affiliated Orders: Deneir, with Mystra and other powers, has influenceon the mysterious group known as the Harpers, and one of Deneir�s largestchurches, the Inner Chamber in Berdusk, is the front for an extensiveHarper organization known as Twilight Hall. While Deneir has no militantknightly orders, his faith does number an order of scribes and several ordersof monks. All temple scribes certified by the church of Deneir as skilled and

servers of the Ordered Way, who tend to remain cloistered and performcopying and illuminating work; the Disciples of the Free Word (known de-risively as the �Pens of the Poor�), who pursue the church mission of offer-ing scribe duties to the indigent with great vigor; and the Zealots of theWritten Word (usually just called �Zealots� or Carmendines, after theirfounder), an adventuring order that accompanies priests of the faith on

Priestly Vestments: Deneirrath always wear the badge of the god upontheir person�if nowhere else, on a gold circlet worn about their brows.They are also never without their most important identifiers, their ubiqui-tous writing kits: triangular leather pouches belted to their right hips con-taining paper, inks, and pens. There is a saying about Deneirrath and theirkits: �If a Deneirrath is naked in the bath and the ceiling above him catchesfire, he will grab any books in the room first, his writing kit second, and thedoor third, leaving clothes behind for more modest men.�

The standard dress of priests of Deneir, both in normal daily use and forceremony, is a tan, off-white, or white tunic with a stiff, circular collar,breeches, and a medium-length ornamental cloak of the sort known as aswirl cloak in the cities of the Sword Coast (because it covers nothingagainst winter winds and bad weather, but merely swirls out grandly be-hind the wearer). The color of the cloak denotes the rank of the cleric,

from diagonally black-and-white striped for Applicants, to black for Under-priests, black with a maroon collar for Aspirant Priests, black with a graycentral strip for Full Priests, gray with black trim for Priest Illuminators, allgray for Priest Calligraphers, indigo for Priest Editors, sepia for Priest Secre-taries, turquoise for Priest Librarians, royal blue for Aspirant Scriveners,white with gold trim for Full Scriveners, and pure white for High Scriveners.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring clerics of Deneir wear whatever ismost suitable for their particular mission, but they always wear both theirwriting kits and badges bearing the symbol of Deneir somewhere on their

• Glyphscribes gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws vs. damage and mali-cious effects caused from reading, touching, or walking near books,scrolls, runes, and other magical writing, including the effects of cursesand magical tomes handled by the wrong class. In situations where thereader gets no saving throw (such as reading explosive runes), then a nor-mal saving throw is allowed without modification. The DM may deter-mine the extent of this benefit, but it should be confined to writtenworks or those using specific, definable images. Note that the glyphscribealso receives this benefit against spells or similar effects cast upon him orher by being read from a scroll.

• Glyphscribes can speak any languages that are spoken by natives ofAbeir-Toril and the crystal sphere that immediately surrounds it (Realm-space). This does not mean that glyphscribes have any special gift forteaching languages, and a glyphscribe does not have free and constantaccess to all those languages.

persons.

Specialty Priests (Glyphscribes)REQUIREMENTS:

PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERESS:

Intelligence 15, Wisdom 15Intelligence, WisdomNG Any one-handed bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsAll armor types up to and including banded mail; noshieldsAll , astral, combat, creation, divination, elemental,guardian, healing, protection, summoning, thoughtAnimal, plant, sun, time, weatherSame as clerics

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Reading/writing (Common)Reading/writing (any)

Basically, a glyphscribe can actually keep in mind constantly as manyspoken tongues as she or he has points of Intelligence. The languages aglyphscribe is going to permanently learn must be kept track of by theglyphscribe’s player. Once a language is made one of the permanenttongues, it cannot he changed. If glyphscribes wants to learn to read andwrite languages that have spoken tongues, they must take those tonguesas one of their permanent languages.

• Glyphscribes, when confronted with a ward or runic symbol can try toidentify the symbol. Make two Intelligence ability checks. If the first suc-ceeds, the glyphscribe determines the type of person (Harper, merchant,ranger, orc, etc.) who left the rune. A second Intelligence ability checkallows the glyphscribe to determine the general meaning of the rune(warning, good food, ambush, ancient magic), though not the exact de-tails of the message.

• At 3rd level, glyphscribes are able to create a glyph of revealing (as the 2nd-level priest spell) or cast erase (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 5th level, glyphscribes have the ability to create a glyph of warding (asthe 3rd-level priest spell) once a day. It takes them five rounds to do so,no matter what the size of the area to he warded is. They may not wardany area of more than 50 square feet with this ability.

• At 7th level, glyphscribes are able to cast amanuensis or dispel magic (asthe 3rd-level priest spells) once a day.

• At 10th level, glyphscribes are able to speak with dead (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell), speak with plants (as the 4th-level priest spell), or speak withmonsters (as the 6th-level priest spell) up to four times a day.

• At 15th level, glyphscribes have the ability to create a symbol (as eitherthe 7th-level priest spell or the 8th-level wizard spell) once a day.

Nonpermanent languages become usable only on an as-needed basis.For instance, most Faerûnians do not speak Nexalan, the language ofMaztica. Only when face to face with someone or something speakingthat tongue does a glyphscribe know how to speak and understand it.When the Nexalan speaker leaves, the glyphscribe loses access to thatlanguage, although all things discussed are remembered in a form theglyphscribe understands to the extent that any conversation is normallyable to be recalled.

Deneirrath Spells2nd LevelGlyph of Revealing (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: DivinationRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 hour/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: 120-foot-diameter sphereSaving Throw: NoneTo enact this magic, the priest draws a special glyphon any relatively hori-zontal surface (including a shield held out horizontally or the instep of aboot) with a special ink. When the glyph of revealing is complete, it glows andthen vanishes, but it subsequently causes all dweomers within a 120-foot-di-ameter sphere of itself to glow with a clear white radiance the same bright-ness as faerie fire. The outlines of magically hidden inscriptions, invisiblewizard marks, magically concealed secret pages, runes, glyphs, symbols, and thelike within its area of effect are clearly shown so that they can be read oridentified without being triggered. The glyph of revealing may be movedwithout damaging it once it is complete.

The material component of this spell is an ink made of the juice ofcrushed eyebright, white chalk, and crushed quartz.

3rd LevelAmanuensis (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: CreationRange: 10 feetComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 turn/levelC a s t i n g T i m e : 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneWhen cast, this spell generates its own ink and animate a quill pen as if itwere in an invisible scribe’s hand (though there is in fact nothing tangible orsentient present) to precisely duplicate nonmagical writing. The animatedquill writes as fast as the caster can and copies as much of any writing thecaster assigns it to copy as can be duplicated before the spell expires. The quillvanishes when the spell is done or earlier if the caster wills the magic to end.

Though the ink created by amanuensis is unique and does not duplicatethe copied work, the penmanship of the copy is exacting. Perfect forgeriescan be made by means of this spell.

Once the quill is set to its task, the caster need not he present or in rangefor it to continue; only destruction of the writing surface or the casting of dis-pel magic upon the quill prevents the writing from being completed. If neces-sary to complete its assigned task, the quill becomes intangible and followsthe writing surface if it is moved; it cannot he grasped or struck aside in an ef-fort to make it cease. No being except the caster can control or influence themoving quill. If the quill finishes its copying and some time remains beforethe spell ends, the caster must be within range, however, to direct it to begincopying a second writing or making a second copy of the same writing.

An amanuensis spell cannot copy any magical writing or markings. It di-rected to do so, the quill hangs motionless. A diary, grimoire, or other workcontaining passages of text interspersed with spells and magical symbols iscopied as text with gaps where the original displays magical markings. Manypowerful priests have pleaded with Deneir to allow this spell to he modifiedso that their prayers would allow them to copy spells, but Deneir has stead-fastly refused to grant this power.

The material components of this spell are a quill pen and a blank sheet orsheets of parchment, some vellum scrip, a chapbook, or another writing sur-face onto which the writing will be copied. The quill is consumed at the endof the spell’s duration; the writing surface is not.

Shift Glyph (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Creation, DivinationRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: One magical glyph, rune, symbol, or inscriptionSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell allows the casting priest to move an unknown or hostile magicalglyph, rune, symbol, or magical inscription (defined as a message of manycharacters all written at the same time and intended to be read together)

from the surface on which it is found to another surface of the priest’s choos-ing within spell range. If no suitable surface (presumably one similar to theoriginal surface, or failing that, a relatively smooth horizontal or vertical sur-face large enough to hold the writing) exists within range, the spell does notwork, but it is not wasted.

When a shift glyph is cast, all magical symbols within range of the casterthat the spell can affect glow with a dim white radiance. The caster has untilthe end of the round to choose which one to move; beings familiar with cer-tain glyphs can identify them at this time. Once a glyph is chosen, the othermagical markings cease to glow, fading back into their former state. Notethat the chosen glyph may be one the caster did not know of before the spellilluminated it.

The caster of a shift glyph must then make a saving throw vs. spell; if thissaving throw fails, the chosen glyph takes effect (discharges) in its originallocation and does not move. If the saving throw succeeds, the glyph is suc-cessfully moved to its new location. If the glyph or writing is moved success-fully but remains linked to something on, under, behind, or beneath its for-mer location (suggesting that its former area remains trapped or dangerous),the magic makes the caster aware of this, but reveals nothing about the na-ture of the not-yet-triggered magic.

E l d a t h(Goddess of Singing Waters, the Quiet One,M o t h e r G u a r d i a n o f G r o v e s , t h e G r e e n G o d d e s s ,

t h e M o t h e r o f t h e W a t e r s )

Lesser Power of Elysium, NGPORTFOLIO: Quiet places, springs, pools, stillness, peace, waterfalls,

druid grovesALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Eronia/The True GroveSUPERIOR: SilvanusALLIES: Mielikki, Silvanus, Chauntea, Selûne, LathanderFOES: Malar, Loviatar, Bane (now dead), Amaunator (non

dead), Talos, Moander (now dead)SYMBOL : A waterfall plunging into a still pool without causing

any disturbance of its waters, or a circular, sky-blue diskfringed with green ferns

WOR. ALIGN: AnyEldath (EL-dath) is the guardian of druid groves, andher presence is felt every place where there is calm.Her druids and clergy often aid other druidic faiths inestablishing a grove and sanctifying it. In religiousart, Eldath is often depicted as a dark-haired womandressed in shimmering green or as a dryad or wild elfwith blue and green hair. Her singing is heard inevery babbling brook and waterfall.

Eldath is a pacifist and usually takes no hostile actions even when threat-ened. This is one of the reasons that Eldath is almost a forgotten power; mostFaerûnians think of Mielikki, Silvanus, or Chauntea in relation to nature be-fore they think of her. Eldath is enigmatic and speaks seldom. She seems shy,but possessed of unknown depths of character and an unexpressed resolvethat cannot he broken. When challenged, she gives before challengers whoonly later discover that her apparent acceptance and retreat merely drewthem out into an untenable position where they are surrounded, out of theirelement, and their remforcements have been converted to her side.

Like Mielikki, Eldath serves Silvanus. Eldath sees him as a father figure,but often findss his robustness intimidating to her retiring nature. Mielikkiand Eldath have a very close relationship. During the Time of TroublesMielikki was heard to address her as “Datha,” and the two goddesses em-braced as sisters.

While Eldath opposes all that Tempus stands for, she does not considerhim a personal foe. He in turn, is said to consider her native, but to respecther convictions and generally ignore her.

Eldath made the Prime Material Plane her home until very recently, sim-liar to Mielikki. In 1369 DR, the same year that Mielikki established anOuter Planes realm, Eldath also moved her home realm, the True Grove, toElysium. Where she received the divine burst of power to make such a hugemove is unknown; sages have considered Eldath’s faith a shrinking one forcenturies. However, these same scholars speculate that wherever she re-ceived the power from, it may be related to the official shift toward goodthat Eldath herself made apparent in picking Elysium as her home plane.

(Among themselves, church scholars list Mielikki, Mystra, or Chauntea aslikely candidates for help in the move.) The shift itself surprised no one, andEldath still welcomes the same worshipers and clergy members within herfold. Legend holds that Eldath’s worshipers may still visit the True Groveeven before their deaths through gates in places where it could formerly bereached: near the upper reaches of the Unicorn Run in the High Forest, inthe Elven Court near Lake Sember or near Elventree, at Eldath’s Water inthe Misty Forest, in the depths of the Forest of Tethir, in the dense heart ofthe King’s Forest in Cormyr, atop Oak Hill in the Border Forest north of theRiver Tesh, at various locales in Turmish, and in a dozen or more otherwooded areas.

Eldath�s Avatar (Mystic 30, Cleric 25, Mage 22, Bard 15)Eldath prefers not to appear in avatar form often; she seems almost shy.When she does appear, it is usually to wounded beings who have found theirway into one of her sacred places or to her worshipers. Eldath takes the formof a tall, thin, yet graceful and beautiful translucent female human, nereid,or aquatic elf; she can be seen through at all times. Her feet are bare, her hairlooks like spun glass or flowing ice and is colorless like water, and her eyesare deep green. Eldath’s green silken garments flow clingily around her, yetthe sight of her soothes lustful thoughts rather than arousing them. She ra-diates stillness and peace. She can draw spells from all schools and allspheres except combat and war. She employs enchantment/charm schoolspells and charm sphere spells as if she were 40th level.

AC -3; MV 15, Fl 24; HP 158; THAC0 2; =AT 1Dmg 1d110MR 75%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 13, Dex 24, Con 18, Int 19, Wis 24, Cha 21Spells P: 13/12/12/11/8, W: 5/5/5/5/5/5/4/4/3Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Eldath is a pacifist, preferring to silently resist andwithstand rather than fighting. All nondivine attacks are launched at a -7penalty to attack rolls within 90 feet of her and at a -5 penalty to attack rollsfrom over 90 feet to 140 feet of her. To raise a hand against Eldath or castany offensive spell either at her or with her in its area of effect, the attackingbeing must first succeed at a saving throw vs. spell penalized by any Wisdomability score magical defense adjustment bonus the attacher normally has(that is, the bonus becomes a penalty of equivalent amount). Magical de-fense adjustment penalties remain penalties.

Eldath can cast one priest spell and one wizard spell per round. Her touchdestroys undead creatures of less than divine power, reducing them instantlyand forever to dust. She strives above all things to cast spells that restrain,charm, hold, sleep, or otherwise incapacitate persistent foes rather than cast-ing damaging spells. Her smile alone charms and befriends all creatures of In-tellgence 1 to 4.

Eldath can levitate and walk on air at will at MV Fl 24. She can project si-lence akin to the silence, 15’ radius spell either as a 90-foot-radius sphere cen-tered on herself or in path up to 90 feet long and as wide or narrow as shedesires so as to target specific beings. She can also employ repulsion, and hertouch or passage (within 10 feet of where her feet touch — or would if shewalked on the surface) automatically purifies tainted, diseased or pollutedmatter, and neutralizes all poisons.

Other ManifestationsEldath appears most frequently as a whispering wind that brings a message andrevives plants that it touches to the blooming height of health or a greenglowing aura that has all the healing powers of the goddess, can speak aloudand in the minds of those within 120 feet, and can telekinese nonlivingitems within its confines. Eldath also acts or shows her favor through the ap-pearance or actions of bears, raccoons, brownies, dryads, sylphs, nereids,feystags, sprites, stags, talking owls, unicorns, and other woodland creatures,common meadow and woodland flowers such as daisies, water plants such aswater lilies and lotuses, and aquamarines, clear quartz, blue topazes, sap-phires, and other stones in watery hues.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, druids, specialty priests, monks, myticsCLERGY’S ALIGN: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, D: No, SP: Yes, Mon: No, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, D: No, SP: No, Mon: No, Mys: NoAll clerics, druids, specialty priests, monks, and mystics of Eldath receivereligion (Faerûnian) as a bonus weapon proficiency. All of these priestsof Eldath must take swimming as a nonweapon proficiency.

The church of Eldath is small and dispersed, the majority of its most ar-dent priests traveling and preaching or settling by some quiet spot andteaching those who come seeking enlightenment. In a world brimming

rarely resort to any sort of open confrontation for as long as possible as ittends to bring attacks down on the clergy�but hidden priests can work inopposition unhindered.

with evil deities and their servants, orcs, goblins, warring nations, andother hostile forces, it is not surprising that Eldath�s philosophy of peaceand calm has failed to catch on. Still, it is viable and challenging, and leg-ends speak of heroes, such as the elven war hero Telva, who embraced thecause of Eldath and abandoned warfare forever. One race of beings whotravel against the tide of war with Eldath are the ondonti, a pacifistic orcishrace (detailed in the Ruins of Zhentil Keep boxed set).

Given the limitations and goals of the specialty priests of Eldath, itshould not be surprising that there are not very many of them. Only some10% of the priests of Eldath are specialty priests, called peacemen andpeacewomen in the faith. The remainder of the followers are split betweendruids, clerics, a scant few mystics, and a relatively recently founded monas-tic order. Clerics, druids, mystics, and monks, while not as restricted as thespecialty priests of Eldath, are encouraged to conduct themselves in a fit-ting fashion as put forth by their deity. It is a mark of skill among Eldathyn(especially adventurer-priests, known as �Freewalkers�) to defeat foes withdefensive spells, making an enemy defeat himself through misdirection andmanipulation. Most of the high-ranking members of the church�s loose or-ganization are peacemen and peacewomen, and the great druids and othersenior clergy members of the faith defer to them in discussion. Relations be-tween the five branches of the faith are excellent, and both of the moremilitant wings of the faith are very supportive and protective of the spe-cialty priests, mystics, and monks, who are more retiring.

and coins that the priests can use.

Eldathyn are also charged with observing and recording what sort ofbirds, beasts, and plants dwell in what places and the changes in theamounts and locations of such flora and fauna over the years. They are toreport such things to their superiors on a regular basis so that the seniorclergy members, working with those of Silvanus and Mielikki, can interpretlong-term trends in regional ecologies.

To raise funds for personal and church support, priests of Eldath may actas water-dowsers by employing an infallible water divination spell known tothe church, as herbalists, gardeners, or as potion-makers. Few Eldathyn livein large settlements, but many dwell in springside cottages�often withtrained guard animals�within an easy ride of cities or large towns so as tobe able to serve the local populace as sources of medicines and potions.Clergy of Eldath are all taught to swim, and often teach this skill to nonbe-lievers in return for small offerings to the church and the goddess of food

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Eldath�s clergy members pray ona personal and individual basis when bathing or floating in ponds orstreams, when standing under waterfalls, and in small chambers, caves, orforest bowers given over to regular meditation. Many forest paths in woodsdwelt in by Eldathyn cross streams by means of log bridges bearing tiny hutswith holes or trap doors in their floors, permitting modest clergy to immersethemselves for prayer or bathing. These are the most favored meditationspots for Eldathyn.

Pacifists and lovers-of-nature cleave to the Green Goddess. Many arevegetarians and herbalists who desire to take no life, but the ranks of theEldathyn are studded with hardy adventurer-priests who serve as envoys toother faiths, act as go-betweens with urban worshipers (often guiding themto and from forest fastness temples), and carry items and messages frompriest to priest within the faith. Although it is part of the making of apriest of Eldath that an individual must travel Faerûn widely enough topray in at least nine sacred fastnesses (temple groves) dedicated to thegoddess, most Eldathyn settle in one grove or one forest and live their livesthereabouts.

Prayers must be performed upon awakening, at sunset, and at least onceduring the dark hours, and may be performed at any other time as personallydesired. In woodlands and remote wilderness areas, worship of the GreenGoddess should be done unclad or as close to it as is possible in a given cir-cumstance. Startled woodsmen tell of certain adventurer-priests standing inpools to pray with their weapons drifting in midair around them in slow, en-spelled orbits so as to be ready to hand if danger came upon the scene.

Eldathyn are organized in a simple hierarchy where a dozen or so priests,each of whom may have up to 14 underpriests dwelling with him or her, re-port to a senior priest who in turn reports to a grand priest responsible for arealm or larger region. Clergy of senior years, many accomplishments, orhigher rank are styled �Exalted,� and traveling Freewalkers rank betweenfull priests and senior priests. From the ranks of the Exalted come the lead-ers of temples to Eldath, most of whom preside over forest communitieswith open-air sacred places of worship known as fastnesses. As the leader ofa fastness, they are entitled use the title Keeper of the Fastness.

The only calendar-related ritual of Eldath, the Greening (Greengrass) isalso the only regular gathering and festival of the priesthood. It is precededby Firstflow, a festival held at different times in different locales as the icebreaks up and the waters begin to flow. The only other occasions uponwhich Eldathyn gather in large numbers are consecrations of new places as

Dogma: The philosophy of Eldath is highly advanced. It teaches thatpeace can only come from within and cannot be taught or imposed; itmust be reached through thought and meditation The faithful of Eldathshould seek stillness and thereby find peace. They are to plant trees andgreen-leaved things and tend such things when they need it, whereverthey may be.

open-air temples or shrines of the goddess. At such consecrations, the as-sembled clergy perform the Chant of the Fastness. An avatar of Eldath al-ways appears to bless her worshipers� efforts, though she may not alwaysspeak or work magic other than making any spring or water in her new sa-cred place into water of Eldath for a tenday thereafter and giving it thepower to regenerate and heal all creatures immersed in it until the dawn fol-lowing the day of her appearance.

Eldathyn are instructed to nurture and aid and not to restrict or punish.They may defend but not punish. Eldathyn may work violence only to de-fend, and they may slay no thing of the forest save to prevent it from slay-ing themselves or another under their protection.

All worshipers of Eldath are to aid fellow Eldathyn and clergy of Sil-vanus and Mielikki whenever possible and to give assistance, support, andshelter to displaced forest dwellers and to those who work to defend ponds,marshes, and streamside woods everywhere. They must swear to take nothinking life save in direst need and to share with all beings the beneficialthings that grow in or come from running water that all may know of andpraise Eldath.

Major Centers of Worship: The most revered center of Eldathyn wor-ship is Duskwood Dell in Amn, east of Eshpurta. There the waters of theRiver Rimril, a tributary of the Esmel River, plunge down the western cliffsof Eldath�s Mount in the Troll Mountains via the Green Goddess Falls in adescent of over 400 feet and thence through a series of pools and lesser falls(called the Steps) out into Arundath, the Quiet Forest (known most com-monly as the Snakewood for the serpentine denizens the Eldathyn use toscare away intruders). Here Most Exalted Fallskeeper Alatoasz Berendimpresides over a tree city of Eldathyn who train underpriests in the service ofthe Green Goddess and send them out all over Faerûn to find their personalplace in Eldath�s service.

Day-to-Day Activities: Eldathyn usually spend their lives tending un-spoiled places to ensure that they survive and even flourish in the face ofhuman and other depredations. Priests of Eldath replant burned areas,purge areas of plant diseases, construct boulder firebreaks, irrigate woodedareas, and clear streambeds to make rivulets flow more swiftly or createdams to slow runoff and encourage the life created by small pools. Theyeven make bargains with nearby foresters to cut only in certain areas andleave other woodlands alone.

Elah�zad, an ancient Eldathyn holy site in Anauroch, is also a place ofgreat power. According to the Bedine, Elah�zad was the home of the moongoddess, Elah (Selûne), but At�ar the sun goddess drove her away and madeit a prison for Eldath, the Mother of the Waters, because she was jealous ofEldath�s beauty. Here Eldath can choose to speak through the mouth of anywoman who enters the House of the Moon, a nearly circular palatial templeformed of chalky, translucent desert rock in the midst of a lake set in a sa-cred grove surrounded by over a hundred small springs. (The woman fallsasleep and the goddess directly and completely controls her body.) At theHouse of the Moon charged magical items of the Eldathyn faith can berecharged through prayer and ritual by the grace of Eldath.

Eldath has a hatred of indiscriminate and greedy woodcutters, those whouse fire as a weapon, and avaricious millers and careless beings who foulrivers and other waters. Her clergy are pledged to work against such indi-viduals by whatever means seem most prudent for long-term success. They

Affiliated Orders: The Eldathyn church and the revitalized Mielikkianfaith have grown extremely close recently. Eldathyn provide quiet sanctu-ary and supply to the Shadoweirs of the Mielikkian faith when they cannotreceive support from those of their own religion. The Eldathyn faith alsohas close ties with Those Who Harp (the Harpers), an organization work-ing throughout Faerûn for good and against the rise of great powers, whichtend to endanger all natural life.

The church of Eldath has a circle of a few peacewomen and peacemenwho have formed a group known as the Arbitrators of the Quiet One. Theyfreely go to areas of conflict and attempt to serve as mediators in long-standing disagreements that have led to violent acts. They listen to bothsides and try to find a middle ground without polarizing the issues throughovert statements of moral judgment. They prefer to find resolutions that getat the heart of a problem so that once dealt with it does not flare up againin months or years.

The monastic order of Eldath is the Disciples of the Yielding Way, some-times known as the Brothers and Sisters of the Open Palm. These monksguard sacred sites where many peacemen and peacewomen dwell and travelthe countryside gathering information for isolated groves and fastnesses.They do not ever seek to provoke violence, but are quite deceptively deadlywhen defending themselves, their charges, and their holy sites.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Eldath dress simply in green and bluerobes decorated with water-colored (blue, green, translucent, and opales-cent) semiprecious gems and embroidery in water patterns. Specialty priestsdon a series of sheer robes, each in different shades of blue and green. Thesleeves and hems of the garments are artfully cut to look ragged like tossingwaves or water ripples. All clergy wear Eldath’s symbol as a holy symbol; thesky-blue disk is fashioned of painted wood and fresh fern fronds are plantedor affixed over the painted ones on the symbol whenever possible.

Adventuring Garb: Eldathyn priests dress practically in the field,though some like to accent their dress with blue and green and allow thesleeves and hems of their garments to become ragged to simulate frothingwater. Most wear leaf-green robes with moss-green accents, gray sashes, andbrown overcloaks. Peacemen and peacewomen wear no armor and sportgarb similar to their ceremonial dress made up of multiple layers of semi-transparent robes and tabards over an opaque foundation robe or dress.Sightings of Eldathyn inwild folk of the woods.

the deep woods have given rise to manylegends

Specialty Priests (Druids)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 12, Charisma 15PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:

NClub, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, scimitar, sling, staff

ARMOR: Padded, leather, or hide and wooden, bone, shell orother nonmetallic shield

M AJOR SPHERESS: All, animal, creation, elemental, healing, plant, time,wards, weather

M INOR SPHERES: Divination, travelersMAGICAL ITEMS: As druidREQ. PROFS: SwimmingBONUS PROFS: Modern languages (pick two from: brownie, dryad,

elvish, korred, nereid, nixie, nymph, pegasus, pixie,satyr, sirine, sprite, sylph, treant, unicorn)

Some of the speciality priests of Eldath are druids. Their abilities and re-strictions, aside from changes noted above, are summarized in Appendix 1:Priest Classes and detailed in full in the Player’s Handbook.

Speciality Priests (Peacemen/Peacewoman)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 14, Charisma 13PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaALIGNMENT: NG, NWEAPONS: Nets, whips, staves, clubs, stones, slings, and staff slings

only, and then only within great restrictions (see below).ARMOR: NoneMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, charm, divination,elementalwater, healing,

protection, sun, wardsM INOR SPHERES: Animal, necromantic, plant, travelersMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, but specialty priests of Eldath will not

use items or those effects of items which inflict harmupon others.

REQ. PROFS: SwimmingBONUS PROFS: Modern languages (pick three from: brownie, dryad,

elvish, korred, nereid, nixie, nymph, pegasus, pixie,satyr, sirine, sprite, sylph, treant, unicorn)

l Peacemen and peacewomen can be half-elves, halflings, or sirines,though halfling and elf society finds this choice of vocation a tad pecu-liar, to say the least.

l Peacemen and peacewomen cannot fight, except to defend themselvesand those with them. They may not initiate attacks, charges, or am-bushes. They are pacifists. Those peacemen and peacewomen who seek

to bend the will of the goddess to their own ends soon find themselveswithout priestly abilities.

l Peacemen and peacewomen may use any priest spells of the enchant-ment/charm type, regardless of sphere.

l Peacemen and peacewomen may use hold plant, though normally 4th-level spells in a minor sphere would be denied them.

l Peacemen and peacewomen are able to cast remove fear (as the 1st-levelpriest spell) once per day. This remove fear effects other magical fears,including the fear aura of the now-dead Bane and his specialty priests. Italso dispels the effects of the pain touch of the pains of Loviatar.

l Peacemen and peacewomen are immune to the pain touch of pains ofLoviatar.

l At 3rd level, peacemen and peacewomen are able to cast sleep (as the1st-level wizard spell). They gain an additional sleep spell for every addi-tional three levels of experience.

l At 5th level, peacemen and peacewomen are able to cast silence, 15’ ra-dius (as the 2nd-level priest spell). The priest gains an additional silence,15’ radius spell for every additional three levels of experience.

l At 7th level, peacemen and peacewomen are able to water walk (as the3rd-level priest spell) at will.

l At 10th level, peacemen and peacewomen can breathe water.l At 12th level, peacemen and peacewomen are able to cast Laeral’s aque-

ous column (as the 4th-level wizard spell detailed in Pages From theMages, The Code of the Harpers, or The Seven Sisters) once a day.

l At 15th level, peacemen and peacewomen have sanctuary (as the 1st-level priest spell) in effect on themselves at all times. Any direct attack-ers must make a saving throw vs. spell or totally ignore them.

l In combat, peacemen and peacewomen may parry attacks, subtractingtheir Strength bonus plus 1d6 points directly from their opponent’s at-tack roll. At 10th level, this becomes the Strength bonus plus 1d10points. If a peaceman or peacewoman attacks, she or he loses this abilityfor the remainder of the battle.

Eldathyn Spells1st LevelWailing Wind (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental Air, WeatherRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: VDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: A cube of 10 feet/level on a sideSaving Throw NoneBy means of this spell, a priest creates a magical warning system. When anycreature larger than a common honeybee enters a guarded area (a passage,chamber, cavern, doorway, or cave mouth of up to the area of effect), awailing, whistling blast of wind blows from the guarded area toward thecasting priest. The priest designates the area to be protected verbally, andmust be standing within 5 yards per level of the area to be protected whenthe spell is cast.

The wailing wind travels toward the caster as long as she or he is on thesame plane as the guarded area, but fades out beyond 100 yards per level ofthe casting priest. The wailing wind has a distinctive tone that can be heardby all creatures capable of hearing. It transmits and magnifies any sounds(speech, movement, etc.) made by the triggering being at the time it is ac-tivated, and it thus gives any listener a clue as to what sort of intruder ap-proaches.

The spell cannot he modified to be activated by only specific beings ortypes of creatures. Once the guarded area is entered and the wailing windrises, the spell is exhausted unless the caster was of sufficient level to allowanother activation of the spell for another intruder. The wind itself lasts for1 round per level of the casting priest once triggered, although the castermay end it sooner.

A wailing wind can be activated more than once, depending on the levelof its caster. As the level of the caster increases, the number of blasts ofwailing wind occurring for different intruders at different times is also in-creased. A 1st- or 2nd-level caster creates only a single-blast wailing winds; a3rd- or 4th-level caster creates a wind of two blasts; a 5th- or 6th-levelcaster creates a wind of three blasts, and so on with no known maximum.

2nd LevelTouchsickle (Alteration)Sphere: Combat, PlantRange: 0

Components: V, SDuration: 2 rounds/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: NoneBy means of this spell, one of the caster�s hands temporarily becomes awooden magical weapon. The extremity is able to strike creatures who canbe hit only by magical weapons of +2 enchantment or less. The extremitygains no attack bonus, but its slightest touch does the same slashing (TypeS) damage as a sickle: 1d4+ 1 points of damage vs. smaller than man-sizedor man-sized creatures, 1d4 points of damage vs. larger than man-sizedcreatures.

A druid may use the enchanted extremity to harvest mistletoe as thoughit were a gold or silver sickle.

3rd LevelFlame Shield (Evocation)Sphere: Elemental FireRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a pulsating, 6-foot-high shield of darkness at the end of thecaster�s hand. The shield is weightless and intangible. Missiles and otherweapons and solid objects, including parts of the caster�s body, pass throughit without impediment. The shield remains attached to one of the caster�shands (chosen during the casting) unless the casting priest touches anothercreature�s hand and wills control of the shield to pass to the other (who mustagree to the transfer or it cannot occur).

The shield works against flame. Its touch extinguishes normal torches,flaming oil, and candles instantly. Larger fires are diminished. A fireball strik,ing or exploding around the bearer of a flame shield, for example, does onlyhalf damage. A flame blade coming into contact with a flame shield is harm-lessly destroyed. A flame shield fully cancels out a flame strike if held directlyin the path of the flame strike (over the shield-bearer�s head); this destroys theflame shield instantly. If the flame shield is not held in such a fashion, theshield-bearer takes half damage as for a fireball.

Flame-related illusions, hypnotic patterns, and the like have no effect onany being viewing them through a flame shield. A magical, flaming swordstriking through a flame shield encounters no resistance and inflicts normalweapon damage but no flame damage. Any part of such a blade that haspassed through the shield remains free of flames while any part of the bladeis in contact with the shield; thus a flaming sword striking through a flameshield cannot ignite a scroll or other flammable object by touch.

The material components for this spell are a piece of phosphorous, a dropof mercury, and a cobweb.

Greenwood (Alteration)Sphere: PlantRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 9 cubic feet +1 cubic foot/levelSaving Throw: NoneBy means of this spell, the caster can temporarily make dead and witheredtrees appear living, green and healthy. The caster can affect one plant (orobject made from one), or a mass of plant material up to 9 cubic feet plus 1cubic foot per level of the caster. Dead or bare trees, shrubs, or vines can bemade to cloak themselves in leaves. Sufficient foliage appears to afford con-cealment for the caster, but not enough to use for an entangle spell.

Dry firewood can be made damp enough that it does not light. If wood isalready alight, the flames die down to a thick, choking smoke in a cloud thatlasts for one round per experience level of the caster. This cloud, which to-tally obscures vision beyond 2 feet, covers a roughly spherical volume fromground or floor up or conforms to the shape of a confined area. The smokefills a volume 100 times that of the fire source. All within the cloud must rollsuccessful saving throws vs. spell or suffer -2 penalties to all combat rolls andArmor Class.

Dry, seasoned wood, such as a ship�s mast, can be made to bend and snapunder a strain like green wood. Rotten wood, such as an old bridge or ruin,usually collapses or becomes unsafe to carry any future load.

Damage to plants or wood suffered by being made �green� is permanent,but the wood otherwise reverts to its former state after the expiration of thespell. In other words, if greenwood is used to collapse an old bridge, the woodthe bridge is made of returns to its previous condition after the expiration ofthe spell, but the bridge is still collapsed.

Mold Touch (Alteration)Sphere: PlantRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 6

mold. A successful attack roll is required to touch an opponent in combat orone who is not unaware or immobilized. If the caster cannot touch any crea-

Area of Effect: One target creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell empowers the casting priest to transmute its material componentsinto brown mold spores without suffering personal harm. The first creaturetouched by the caster within six rounds of the casting is infected by brown

ture, the mold spores vanish at the end of six rounds.The mold spores created by this spell cannot live on plant or inorganic

material. All the spores are transferred to the first creature touched by thecaster. Thus, the caster can infect only one creature per spell. In the event ofan accident, this could well be a friend or ally. A mold touch spell inflicts 4d6points of damage upon the target creature, and half that if the victim makesa successful saving throw vs. spell.

Brown mold spreads from the contact point rapidly, growing by absorbingbody heat. In the process, it chills the victim. In the second round after theattack, the mold inflicts 2d6 points of damage and half that if the victimmakes a successful saving throw vs. spell. On every round thereafter, the vic-tim receives a saving throw vs. spell. If the saving throw is successful, nodamage is taken, and the spell ends. If the saving throw is failed, the victimtakes 1d6 points of damage in that round.

Brown mold created by this spell is of limited duration, and a victim can-not infect other creatures even if intending to do so. Magical cold harmsmold created by this spell in the usual manner, but also affects the creatureon which the mold is growing.

The material components of this spell are mistletoe, holly, or oak leaves.

Wheel of Bones (Alteration)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelC a s t i n g T i m e : 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell transforms bone fragments into a fast-spinning pinwheel of manybones that whirl about a limb of the caster chosen during casting. The castercannot grasp anything with that limb or cast any other spell without endingthe wheel of bones, which fades instantly into nothingness when it expires.The caster can will the spell to end at any time.

A wheel of bones inflicts 1d6+4 points of damage when a priest hits a foewith it by making a successful attack roll with the limb it surrounds. Thewheel of bones can also fire bone shards once per round in addition to anymelee attack the caster may make. The melee attack is made with the priest�snormal THAC0. Hurled shards always strike at THAC0 7, regardless of thepriest�s own attack prowess. They cause 1d4 points of damage each, and 1d3of them fly at the target of a shard attack. The caster designates the target ofa shard attack, but has no control over how many shards are hurled at it. Themissile range of these shards is 5 (short)/10 (medium)/15 (long) yards, andthey may be fired at point blank range at neither a penalty or a bonus.

The damage and duration of a wheel of bones is unaffected by the numberof shards it fires, and the caster of the wheel is never harmed by the spell�sbone shards, regardless of where they fly, ricochet, or strike.

The material components of this spell are at least two bones or bone frag-ments from any source.

5th Level

Control Vapor (Alteration, Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Elemental Air, Elemental WaterRange: 40 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/level

Casting Time: 8Area of Effect: 10-foot/level-radius sphereSaving Throw: NoneBy means of this spell, the caster is able to alter the movement rate and di-rection of natural or magical smokes and vapors, including incendiaryclouds, smoke ghosts, gaseous breath weapons, fog cloud, and cloudkill, as wellas the smoky effects of pyrotechnics and creatures in gaseous form. Withinthe area of effect, wind effects are negated, even if of magical origin, andthe caster can hold a vapor stationary or move it up to 10 feet per level eachround in any desired direction. If the vapor passes out of the stationary areaof effect of the spell, control is lost.

Creatures in gaseous form (such as vampires) and those wind walking re-ceive no saving throw against the spell. A vapor cannot alter its form, be al-tered in form, nor be split into several vapors unless the caster so wills; how-ever, creatures normally able to alter their nongaseous form into anotherform (such as corporeal one) can do so whether the caster desires them toor not. The process of changing form takes twice as long as usual while theyare affected by control vapor. Clouds of insects and similar insubstantial oramorphously formed but nongaseous creatures are not affected by this spell.

The drow of the Underdark are reputed to use a parallel form of thisspell in one or more of their faiths.

The material component of this spell is a bean or pea and the priest’sholy symbol (which is not consumed in casting the spell).

Greater Touchsickle (Alteration)Sphere: Combat, PlantRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 2 rounds/levelCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: NoneBy means of this spell, one of the caster’s hands temporarily becomes awooden magical weapon. The extremity is able to strike all creatures whocan be hit only by magical weapons. The extremity is able to strike all creatures whoand its slightest touch does slashing (Type S) damage as a sickle +2: 1d4+3points of damage vs. smaller than man-sized creatures, 1d4+2points of damage vs. larger than man-sized creatures.

A druid may use the enchanted extremity to harvest mistletoe as thoughit were a gold or silver sickle.

7th LevelWater of Eldath (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental Water, HealingRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasttng Time: 8Area of Effect: Three potion flasksSaving Throw: NoneThis spell fills three potion flasks with water of Eldath. An entire flask ofwater of Eldath poured onto something or someone kills mold and muskcreeper spores (including monstrous sorts) and rot grubs; purifies water ofdangerous pollutants, diseases, and oils, including all things that give thewater an unpleasant taste and odor; acts as a neutralize poison (as the4th-level priest spell). If an entire flask is imbibed, it instantly confers thefollowing effects on the drinker as needed: It cures disease (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell); cures mummy rot; cures lycanthropy; removes curses (as the3rd-level priest spell); and closes all wounds, including wounds made by en-chanted weapons that cannot normally be made to close, effectively bind-ing the wounds and preventing further damage due to blood loss.

The material component of this spell is three drops of water blessed byEldath, blessed by one of her personal servants (her servitor creatures) inher name, or consecrated to her by an Exalted of Eldath. One drop is placedinto each flask.

6th LevelSpring Mastery (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Creation, Elemental WaterRange: SpecialComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: None

This spell can be employed in three ways: If cast on a spot where there isno running watercourse, it causes water to spring up from the earth. If caston an existing spring, it purifies the water and makes it totally transparentand nondistorting to the caster’s eyes. If cast on the casting priest whileshe or he is in contact with a spring, the magic performs a limited sort ofteleport.

The first function of the spell causes water to flow up from a spot onthe ground forever if enough subterranean groundwater is present to feeda spring. If there is no water around, it causes a steady flow of water of El-dath (see above) for one turn per level of the caster. One creature perround can drink of the flow, but if it is used to fill leather canteen flasks,potion bottles, or other containers permitting transportation away forlater imbibing, the spell is exhausted after 1 container/level of the casteris filled. Any container larger in volume than the caster’s two handsplaced together counts as two or more containers, depending on its size

The second function of the spell allows the caster to clearly seethrough the spring’s water to find creatures therein and examine sub-merged objects or the streambed itself. Normally invisible creatures in thespring affected by spring mastery are made evident to the caster by thespell’s magic even if they are merged with the water as water weirds orwater elementals are. Spring mastery used in this fashion permanentlybanishes all taints, poisons, waterborne diseases, and corrosive sub-stances, including monster secretions. An aquatic monster employingsuch fluid or fluidborne attacks discovers that they simply do not functionwithin a 70-foot spherical radius of where the spell was cast for one fullyear after the round of casting.

The third function of spring mastery permits instantaneous travel forthe caster and all nonliving worn, carried, or held items only (to what-ever limits the caster can normally carry) from the place of casting to ei-ther a known, previously visited spot in or on the banks of any otherspring in Faerûn (including subterranean watercourses) or to the nearestjunction with another watercourse either upstream or downstream(which need not he a locale known to the caster), as the caster chooses.

The material component of this spell is three drops of water blessed byEldath, blessed by one of her personal servants (her servitor creatures) inher name, or consecrated to her by an Exalted of Eldath. These must bepoured upon the spot where the priest desires spring to issue from in thefirst spell use, introduced into the existing spring in the second, or pouredin the hand of the casting priest in the third.

Mist of the Goddess (Alteration, EjTocation, Necromancy)Sphere: Elemental Water, HealingRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 roundCasting Time: One turnArea of Effect: An inverted cone 30 feet high with J ctrcul,u b<l\e

\vtth d maxtmum radtus of 10 feet/level ,md d mmt-mum radius of 5 feet

Saving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a glowing, green, inverted cone of mist that acts as thepriest spells cure disease (3rd level), remove curse (3rd level), heal (6thlevel), regenerate (7th level), restoration (7th level), and resurrection (7thlevel) on any single being within it. The circular base of the mists has aradius of a maximum of 10 feet per level of the caster; it can be as small asthe caster wills during casting, to a minimum of 5 feet. The cone is 30 feethigh; if called forth in an area with low clearance, its height is truncatedby any solid, continuous roof or ceiling material. If more than one beingor portions of more than one being are touched by the mist, a randombeing is aided unless the priest calling up the mist of the goddess specifi-cally chooses one being as the spell recipient by act of of will.

No corpse is aided by this spell if a living, intelligent being is in contactwith the mists, but if only corpses are present, and no single being is cho-sen by the caster as the spell recipient, all the dead are allowed the savingthrow vs. spell they had in life. All those who successfully save are rein-carnated (as the 7th-level priest spell reincarnate, but without any timelimit since death) into a random creature form that can readily survive inthe immediate surroundings (in other words, no fish out of water or trop-ical species in glacial arctic regions).

The material component of this spell is a drop of water blessed by El-dath, blessed by one of her personal servants (her servitor creatures) inher name, or consecrated to her by an Exalted of Eldath.

Gond(Wonderbringer, the Lord of All Smiths,the Inspiration Divine, the Holy Maker of All Things)Intermediate Power of the Outlands, NPORTFOLIO: Artifice, craft, construction, smithworkALIASES: Zionil (Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden)DOMAIN NAME: Outlands/WonderhomeSUPERIOR: OghmaALLIES: Lathander, Oghma, Waukeen (missing), TempusFOES: TalosSYMBOL: A shining toothed wheel or cog with four spokes, in

ivory, bone, or metalWOR. ALIGN.: A n y

Gond (GOHND) Wonderbr inger i s the god o fblacksmiths, woodworkers, inventors, and engi-neers. In religious art, he is most often portrayed as aburly, red-hued smith, with a mighty hammer and aforge and anvil that allow him to craft the stuff thatstars are made from.

Gond serves Oghma along with Deneir andMilil. He gives the ideas Oghma holds in his portfo-

lio concrete form and inspires others to make new things. He has grownvery independent as his own power waxes, and hi relationship to Oghma isalready only dimly remembered at times by mortals. In Durpar, Estagund,and Var the Golden, Gond is worshiped as part of the Adama, the Durpar-ian concept of a world spirit that embraces and enfolds the divine essencethat is part of all beings. Here he is known as Zionil, patron of inventors,craftfolk, and creators.

Gond is always making new things. He often presses Oghma for theirrelease into the mortal world without thinking through completely theimpact they will have. He is fascinated with making the theoretical realand either does not consider or often does not care about the implicationsfor the use of his inventions and discoveries. He has a constant need forbizarre components as well as raw materials for his work, and so may over-look shady sponsors for specific jobs provided that they pay well in materi-als, knowledge he can use, or future favors. He can he distracted, busi-nesslike, sarcastic, or patronizing as well as incredibly helpful and brilliant.He is dedicated to his faithful, and though he sometimes does not immedi-ately respond to them because he is busy, he always ensures that theirneeds are met.

During the Time of Troubles Gond, in the avatar of a gnome, washedashore on Lantan. His true nature was quickly discovered, and the deity wasrevered and worshiped there until the crisis passed. As a result, Gond gavethe secret of smoke powder to the Lantanna, and arquebuses, stamped onthe butts of their stocks with the symbol of Gond, have been shipped at asteady trickle to western ports since 1358 DR.

Gond�s Avatar (Mage 27, Cleric 20, Thief 19, Fighter 15)Gond’s avatar is rarely seen by mortals outside his temples; he much prefersto manifest in a lesser manner. His avatar sometimes appears as a short,slight man with straw-blond hair, at others times as a burly, red-hued smith,and at yet others a gnome. In any form, his sharp, bright, dark eyes stare outof a forge-scarred face that always bears an alert, inquiring expression. Hewears a scorched smith’s smock over nondescript leathers, and at will cansummon into being around himself glassteel plate armor that hovers over hisbody at a close distance, piece by piece, rather than actually encasing hisform. He has a mighty hammer that he uses at his divine forge and as aweapon when necessary. He can draw spells from any school or sphere, andcasts alteration spells at double effect in all respects and a -2 penalty to ap-plicable saving throws.

AC -5; MV 15; HP 188; THAC0 6; #AT 5/2*Dmg 2d4+27 (hammer of thunderbolts [+11], +12 STR, +2 spec. bonus in hammer) or1d10 (arquebus)MR 65%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 24, DEX 19, CON 21, INT 25, WIS 20, CHA 16Spells P: 12/12/11/10/7/5/2, W: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/5/5Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 4, Sp 4

*Only one attack per round is possible with the hammer of thunderbolts, but nor-mal melee attacks apply for a hammer +3.

Special Att/Def: When he uses a weapon in combat, Gond often uses ahammer of thunderbolts. He can strike with it or hurl it once a round and

never tires of using it. His hurling range is 360 feet, and he strikes with thehammer as if he were wearing a girdle of giant strength and gauntlets of ogrepower (+5 hammer damage bonus and +6 gauntlet damage bonus; his actualStrength equals the girdle). It strikes dead any giant it hits, along withogres, ogre magi, trolls, ettins, and clay, flesh, and stone golems. When ithits, it stuns all creatures within 90 feet for one round. Gond also loves touse arquebuses and can instantly summon a fully loaded and ready to fire ar-quebus into his hands whenever he desires, dismissing an old one and sum-moning a new one every round. He has also been known to use an assort-ment of magical staffs and a hammer +3, and he can summon anynonunique magical i tem in the PHB, DMG, Tome of Magic, or anyFORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting product that is not an artifact or inthe possession of another deity to his hands in one round.

Metal weapons and weapons manufactured through smelting, forging, orworking with metal tools cannot harm Gond. Once per turn he is able todisjunct all magical items in his vicinity (as the 9th-level wizard spell Mor-denkainen’s disjunction). Normal metallic items striking him are disinte-grated automatically (no saving throw); magical metallic items must suc-ceed at an item saving throw vs. disintegration at a -5 penalty or be disin-tegrated. In either case, the metallic item does Gond no damage. Golemsand animated constructs will not lift a hand against Gond; neither can hehe harmed by firearms such as arquebuses.

Other ManifestationsGond appears most often as a forge hammer wreathed in gray smoke. He hasalso manifested as a pair of black, piercing eyes in a gray cloud accompaniedby the faint ringing of distant forge hammers. Either manifestation canspeak or cast spells, issuing spells forth as a burst of smoke that changes intothe spell effect or touches the target of the spell to affect him or her. Mostoften he inspires ideas for new inventions or new applications for old inven-tions in his faithful. He also gives out magical or normal items geared to aidworshipers in particularly sticky dilemmas, though he often does not explainwhy the item he gives someone is suitable. Frequently the items he gives outevaporate in smoke after serving their purpose. Gond also sends baku holyones, einheriar (who were in mortal life inventors), golems, lightningmephits, maruts, pseudodragons, steel dragons, crystal dragons, and ani-mated furniture or equipment to aid mortals or to show his favor or presence.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY'S ALIGN.: AnyTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: NoAll clerics and specialty priests of Gond receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.

Since the Time of Troubles, interest in and worship of Gond is on therise, but this has brought increased attacks both from rival clergy and thosewho simply fear new inventions. Gondarism is the official state religion ofthe island nation of Lantan, which is also a hotbed of invention and new de-vices. Men tend to outnumber women in both Gondar clergy and laity, butthere is no impediment to or prejudice against females rising in the ranks ofthe Gondar. Members of the Gondar faith are mainly human, but more andmore gnomes are being accepted into the church, especially in the wake ofthe form that Gond’s avatar took during the Godswar.

In most of Faerûn, the proportion of clerics to Gondsmen (as his specialtypriests are called) is 15:1. In Lantan, this proportion is nearly reversed, andthere are about 20 Gondsmen for every Gondar cleric. Most specialty priestsof the faith are Lantanna, and most Lantanna merchants encountered in theRealms outside Lantan are specialty priests of Gond.

Clerics of Gond are called Krii, a Lantanna term meaning disadvantaged.Despite the implied slur, many clerics hold senior positions within the statereligion in Lantan. A cleric occupies the post of Most Holy Avenue forSpreading the Faith, which is (in title at least) the supreme authority for allworshipers of Gond not in Lantan. There are a number of northern branchesof the Gondar faith, including a budding temple complex in Tilverton.

Clergy refer to themselves as the Consecrated of Gond, and may speak ofother Gondar priests as “fellow Consecrates,”but their titles of rank aresimple: Wonderer (novice), Seeker Postulant (priest in training), Seekerafter Small Things (confirmed priest), Greater Seeker, Seeker of the TwelfthOrder, Seeker of the Eleventh Order, and so on up to Seeker of theFirst Order, High Seeker (a title held by all senior clergy), Master (leader ofa religious community or one who tends a holy site), Artificer (one who hasbeen personally rewarded and named by Gond for special service), and HighArtificer (the supreme priest of the faith). Though Gondar may act inde-

pendently in their duty of encouraging inventions, their religious hierarchyis ordered and obedience to a superior is unquestioning.

Dogma: The beliefs of the Gondar can be summed up as “Actionscount.” Intentions and thought are one thing, but in the end it is the re-sult—what remains after the sword is forged, the battle is fought—that is themost important. Talk is for others; those who truly serve Gond do.

All Gondar are to strive to make new things that work. All of Gond’sclergy should become skilled at forging, casting, or tempering, and practicevarious means of joining and fastening until they are adept at making thingsto fit a space or situation with which they are confronted. To venerate Gondis to continually question and challenge the unknown with new devices anditems. Elegance and usefulness are the two legs any new making shouldstand on.

Gondar must practice experimentation and innovation in the making oftools and implementation of processes and encourage these virtues in othersthrough direct aid, sponsorship, and diplomatic support. They should striveto make farmers, hunters, and others think of new tools, improved ways ofcrafting and using their existing gear, and new ways of doing things.

The Consecrated must keep records of their strivings, ideas, and at-tempts, so that others can continue where they leave off when gathered atdeath to the Holy Maker of All Things. Gondar are instructed to observe,acquire, and store safely the makings of others, and show what they havelearned to other Consecrated of Gond. They are to discuss ideas and spreadthem so that all may see the divine light that is Gond.

Day-to-Day Activities: Gondar keep the formulas for smoke powderand various sealants, cleansers, and lubricants secret. They sell small jars ofall of these as they travel Faerûn, making a lot of money thereby as well asby selling buckles, small brass bells, mortars and pestles, and various mono-cles and lenses. The special glass jars they use to store smoke powder andother formulas were formerly made only in Lantan. They have proven sopopular that rival makers have sprung up in Calimshan and the Tashalar.To protect church trade secrets, Gondar priests are charged to work againstthese rivals by sabotage, diplomacy, and financial influence, whenever theycan covertly do so.

As they travel, Gondar clergy establish caches, investments, and al-liances and grab samples of any new inventions they come across. It is theirduty to assist inventors and innovators and to file regular reports to the near-est Master by means of messenger envoys of the faith as they travel.

Settling in one place is frowned upon unless a priest can show his or hersuperiors that their prospective home is a locale where much innovation oc-curs that bears need for constant watching such as Waterdeep, Athkatla,Suzail, or—formerly—Zhentil Keep. Making a handsome personal livingwhile one serves Gond is encouraged, however, for who better walks uponFaerûn to demonstrate the rewards of following the Way of Gond?

Priests of Gond are much in demand as builders, especially of vaulted andbuttressed temples dedicated to other gods. Because of these temple engi-neering and construction contracts, the faith of Gond is growing in wealthand influence, but also in foes. Who else would know the secret ways of arival temple than the builder?

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Gondar have only one calendar-related festival: the Ippensheir, The Ippensheir is the name given to the 12days immediately following Greengrass. It is named for Ippen, the firstgreat cleric of Gond, who sometimes appears to clergy in need these daysas Gond’s First Servant. During the Ippensheir, all clergy members ofGond’s faith and his devout worshipers gather at a temple, abbey, or holysite of Gond to share innovations and show inventions and innovationsthey have made or witnessed with and to their fellow Gondar. (Many cav-ern networks and remote towers where capable inventors once dwelt arerevered by Gondar as holy sites.) It is a tune of feasting, drinking, and rev-elry, and some Gondar make much use of personal teleport magics and thenetwork of gates maintained by the priesthood to link major defensibleholy houses to visit as many gatherings of the faithful as they can duringthis time.

Daily rituals to Gond are simple: muttered prayers upon rising and retir-ing that are often scheduled as part of dressing or disrobing so that they arenot forgotten, a longer prayer of thanks at the main meal of a priest’s day,and a special prayer of thanks and dedication of their work before com-mencing any work of new making (as opposed to repair or maintenance).

If a new tool or machine is seen or made by any Gondar, that Gondar ischarged to make two copies of it if possible. One is hidden away against theprying eyes of thieves or vandals for later display to fellow Gondar, and theother is smashed—or preferably, burned—while a prayer of offering toGond, the Sacred Unmakmg, is chanted. This ceremony reinforces Gond’sdominion over both constructive and destructive engineering.

Major Centers of Worship: The heart of the Gondar faith is located atthe High Holy Crafthouse of Inspiration in the city of Illul in Lantan. Thislarge, walled monastery is run by Danactar the High Artificer, Most HolyServant of Gond, the highest-ranking mortal priest of the Wonderbringer.

The House of the Wonderbringer in Ti lverton, formerly known asGharri’s House, is the most prominent temple of Gond in the Heartlands. Itis led by High Artificer Burlan Almaether, who directs over 40 priests in de-vising new inventions in Gond’s name.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Gond has no affiliated knightly or-ders. It does have a great many honorary orders and societies within itsranks. These are usually founded to recognize the works of Gondar work-ing in a particular specialty and to promote the easy exchange of ideas be-tween those qualified in a field while preventing trade or church secretsfrom leaking out to competitors. Just a few of these societies include theOrder of Puissant Stonemasons and Stonecarvers. the Holy Order of MostSki l led Architects and Bridgemakers, the Armorers of the Wonder-bringer, the Most Arcane Order of Gearmakers, Clockmakers, and Au-tomationists, the Society of Creative Castle Design and Construction,and the Industrious Brothers and Sisters of Carpentry, Cabinetry, Pup-petry, and Toymaking.

Priestly Vestments: Gondar clergy members wear saffron ceremonialvestments with a crimson collar and stole. Over their right or left shoulderthey wear a leather sash ending in a large pouch. The sash is dotted withsmall metal tools, gears, wire, cord, locks, hooks, hasps, buckles, and bits ofsteel, tin, and wood that might prove interesting or useful in a pinch (in-cluding, for Gondsmen, their lockpicks). Their vestments also include beltsof large, linked metal medallions and enormous sun hats. They wear Gond’sholy symbol as a pendant fashioned of bone, brass, bronze, or ivory.

Adventuring Garb: In dangerous situations, Gondar wear standardarmor (along with their leather sash), but generally they prefer the protec-tion of 10 or 12 big fighters. Most often they wear practical clothing hungabout with baldrics and pouches crammed with useful supplies. Mostpriests of Gond wear bulky rings that function as knuckledusters (1d3points of damage) and can also produce the equivalent of a cosh from theirgear (1d4 points of damage) and three or four knives of various sorts. (Re-movable hoot-heel knives are a great favorite among the Gondar.) FewGondar priests would steal, but most have and can use files and bolt cut-ters, and Gondsmen are proficient with lockpicks. Increasingly, Gondarpriests have also taken to carrying small metal flasks of smoke powdersealed against sparks and damp and appropriate wicks to use with them tomake explosive missile weapons when trouble arises. (The average smokepowder grenade prepared by a Gondar priest has a range of 10/20/30 feetand does 2d4 points of explosive/fire damage within a 5-foot-radius ofwhere it strikes. It takes one round to prepare and light the wick; the mis-sile can be thrown the second round. Roll on the Scatter Diagram in theGrenade-Like Missiles subsection of the Missile Weapons section of theCombat chapter in the DMG for missiles that miss their target.)

Specialty Priests (Gondsmen)REQUIREMENTS: Dexterity 14, Intelligence 14, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Dexterity, WisdomALIGNMENT: NG, LN, N, CNWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons, crossbows,

and firearms, such as the arquebus, if availableARMOR: All armor types up to and including plate mail; no

shieldsMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, combat, divination, elemental, numbers, pro-

tection, sun, wardsMINOR SPHERES: Charm, creation, guardian, healing, necromanticMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, but also all magical staves, wands, and

rodsrodsREQ. PROFS: Armorer, art ist ic abil i ty, blacksmithing, carpentry,

leatherworking, engineering, mining, pottery, stonema-sonry, or weaponsmithing (pick one)

BONUS PROFS: Gem cutting, engineering, reading/writing (Common)ll Gnomes may be Gondsmen. This vocation is frowned on in most

gnomish communities, but Gond is slowly gaining acceptance amonggnomes.

ll Gondsmen can select nonweapon proficiencies from the priest, rogue,and warrior groups with no crossover penalty.

ll Gondsmen gain two extra initial nonweapon proficiency slots, and atevery level when they would then gain an additional nonweapon profi-ciency slot, they gain two instead. These extra nonweapon proficiencyslots must be used toward skills in fine arts, crafts, or skilled trades.

• Gondsmen gain a +2 bonus when using the following proficiencies: ar-morer, artistic ability, blacksmithmg, carpentry, leatherworking, engi-neering, mining, pottery, stonemasonry, and weaponsmithing. A Gonds-man does not gain these proficiencies automatically, but does gain the +2base bonus when using them. Additional nonweapon proficiency slotsdevoted to these proficiencies increase this modifier normally.

• Gondsmen have an aptitude for devices, which includes mechanicallocks. They may pick locks, given proper tools, as a thief of half theirlevel (as indicated on the Thief Average Ability Table in the Classeschapter of the DMG), subject to the normal Dexterity, armor, and racialmodifiers given in the PHB.

• Gondsmen may create one tree steed (as the 4th-level priest spell) once atenday.

• At 3rd level, Gondsmen have the ability to cast unseen servant (as the1st-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 5th level, Gondsmen have the ability to cast thunder staff and stone-skin (as the 4th-level wizard spells) once a day.At 7th level, Gondsmen have the ability to cast animate object (as the

• 6th-level priest spell) once a day.At 10th level, Gondsmen have the ability to cast probing arm (as the 5th-level priest spell) once a day.

G o n d a r S p e l l s2nd Level 6th LevelWieldskill (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: Charm, ThoughtRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneThis spell temporarily gives any one creature proficiency in the use of a spe-cific weapon or tool seen and mentally chosen by the caster at the tune ofcasting. The spell recipient may be the caster or another being touched bythe caster during casting. The magic bestows temporary but complete famil-iarity with the use, care, and handling of the weapon and all accouterments.For instance, a wizard temporarily given proficiency in the use of a crossbowknows how to wind or cock it, which nearby implement is the necessarywindlass (if it is that type of crossbow), and the different uses and properloading of a variety of quarrels (if an array is present). Similarly, a scholarsuddenly made familiar with a pickaxe would know how to use it to cleaverock along a plane, how to avoid striking sparks, how to strike so as to bluntthe tool very quickly or as slowly as possible, what care to give it, and so on.

This magic does not confer any added Strength, reach, body weight, orother physical adjustments so as to allow the spell recipient to wield theweapon or tool most effectively; it just instills the precise and completeknowledge of how to do so. When the spell ends, this knowledge is,forgotten, although memories of particular thmgs done with the weapon ortool remam.

5th LevelProbing Arm (Alteration, ELTocation)Sphere: CreationRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Tune: 8Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a weightless mechanical arm of steel that has an upper arm3 feet in length, a ball-swivel elbow joint, a forearm 3 feet long, a ball-swivelwrist joint, and a fully articulated hand with four fingers and a perfectly op-posed thumb (that is, the thumb is centered opposite the fingers across thepalm, not located to one side). The shoulder of the arm always floats inmidair closest of any part of the arm to the caster’s head, and the spell rangerefers to how distant the shoulder can be from the caster before the arm ei-ther does not form or dissipates into nothingness.

This arm has an effective Armor Class of 1, a Strength of 19, moves atMV Fl 12 (A), and can lengthen either or both of Its arm segments from 3feet to 30 feet—or any length in between—in response to the caster’s silentwill. Though it is most often used to reach distant objects or beings and grabthem or pick them up, a probing arm can function as a weapon.

The probing arm can punch for 2d4+7 points of damage, launch weapon

attacks at distant foes at a THAC0 one point better than the caster’s own,and grapple with a foe at a +3 bonus to hit. A successful grapple causes 136pomts of bruising and jostling damage, rums spellcasting, cuts movement mhalf, causes opponent missile attacks to be launched at a -3 penalty to attackrolls, and forces item saving throws vs. crushing blow on all fragile itemsworn, carried, or wielded by the foe.

A probing arm can also reach into a guarded area to spring traps or to grab,recover, or move objects the caster dare not touch or approach, such as dis-eased or fungus-covered corpses, burning items, and poison-using monsters.

A probing arm can open locks by touch, acting as the 2nd-level wizardspell knock cast by a 12th-level mage. To use this ability, the probing armmust be commanded to by silent will of the caster. If the unlocking succeeds,the arm vanishes when the locked door opens, since at this point the spell isexhausted immediately. A probing arm could unlock a massive door and thendrag it wide open, fading away only when the opening motion was stoppedby the caster of the probing arm, but such an arm would vanish instantly ifused to unlock a small door that then fell open by itself. The spell is not ex-hausted if the arm is used to unlock a door by turning a key or otherwiseopening it by its usual mechanical means.

The material components of a probing arm are two short sticks or smallstraight rods, two smooth wooden or glass balls (or a real socket joint fromany dead creature), and two human hairs.

Fantastic Machine (Alteration, Evocation, Illusion/Phantasm)Sphere: CreationRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 turnCasting Tune: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates an illusory, many-armed, noisy mechanical construct of im-pressively massive appearance that floats about as the caster wills at MV Fl 4(C) and attempts one of the following tasks, as determined by the caster: Itpushes, pulls, lifts, digs, throws, or thrashes and flails with a tool or weapon.• Push: It can push on a boulder, on a building to make it fall over: on a

wall to collapse it or break through it, on a door to force it open, orsimply push heavy furniture or carcasses. The movement rate it moves atwhile pulling is 80 feet per round over solid rock or stone construction,60 feet per round over earth and loose rock, such as rubble or anavalanche, and 40 feet per round over loose earth or mud. Walls receivea saving throw of 12 or greater to be unaffected or to stand fast on anygiven round against its push.

• Pull: It can pull massive weights up an incline or cliff to a weight limit of50 times the caster’s own body weight. The fantastic machine’s contact isby a shadowy, magical grip on the item, not any grip that could mar orbreak it. Its movement rates are as under pushing.

• Lift: A fantastic machine can lift with the same limitations as pulling.• Dig: A fantastic machine digs a 10-foot-diameter hole 80 feet deep per

round through loose earth, such as a mudslide. It digs the same diameterof hole 60 feet deep per round through earth and loose rock, such as anavalanche, or 20 feet deep per round through solid rock or stone con-struction. It digs a 20-foot-diameter hole at half these stated movementrates. It may dig a 10-foot-diameter hole horizontally (a tunnel) at thesame rates as it digs a 20-foot-diameter hole vertically

• Throw: It throws ropes, rocks, or even rocks with ropes attached to them(to cross a chasm with a line, etc.). Its accuracy is determined by thecaster’s own THAC0; misses land where determined by the Scatter Dia-gram in the Grenade-Like Missiles subsection of the Missile Weaponssection of the Combat chapter of the DUNGEON MASTER Guide. It canhurl items up to 1d20×100 feet. Hurled items deal damage according totheir nature. A fantastic machine can hurl items no heavier than itspulling weight limit; a boulder that heavy would do 12d12 points of dam-age with a direct hit.

• Thrash and Flail: A fantastic machine can thrash and flail rapidly with atool or weapon to crush thickets and brambles to pulp, thresh grain, orsmite all creatures within a 30-foot-wide, 20-foot-deep area selected bythe caster with 2d4+2 melee weapon attacks per round. The damage ofthese attacks is determined by the melee weapon used (decided on by thepriest at the spell’s casting and limited to one-handed weapons only).Mobile targets are allowed a saving throw vs. spell each round. If the sav-ing throw is successful, these targets suffer only half damage from anysuccessful attacks.

A fantastic machine has no tangible existence and can attempt only asingle task, fading away when the spell expires even if the task is unfinished(in other words, a partially lifted item would be dropped). Despite the illu-sory nature of the bulky construct, the magic applies very real force to its sur-roundings. It has made Gondar priests—who preserve the spell as one oftheir most holy secrets, rarely writing down all of its symbols in one place ortome—most respected in some circles.

The material components of a fantastic machine are a drop of water, a frag-ment of adamantite or adamant (the ore adamantite is derived from), a cogor toothed wheel fashioned of any metal, and a strand of spiderweb.

Grumbar(Boss of Earth, Earthlord, Gnarly One,King of the Land Below the Roots,Boss of the Earth Elementals)

Greater Power of the Elemental Plane of Earth, NPORTFOLIO: Elemental earth, earth elementalists, solidity, change-

lessness, oathsALIASES: Etugen (Hordelands)DOMAIN NAME: Elemental Plane of Earth The Great MountainSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: G e b , G a r l G l i t t e r g o l d , D u m a t h o i n , K u r t u l m a k ,

Laduguer, Urogalan, Skoraeus StonebonesFOES: Akadi, UrdlenSYMBOL: Mountains, often against a purple fieldWOR. ALIGN.: A n y

Grumbar (GRUM-bar) is a powerful deity, normallydepicted in the art of his faith as an immense earth el-emental with bulky, muscular arms and eyes that blazelike shimmering rubies. He represents stability and re-sistance to change, both typical properties of earth.He is also the quiet lurker and observer, the uncom-plaining bearer of burdens, and the guardian of secrettreasures in the dark folds of the earth’s crust.

Like all the elemental lords, Grumbar is relatively unfeeling toward his fol-lowers on Abeir-Toril. His reactions are predictable in end result, if alien inlogic; he resists change and development, opting always for maintaining thestatus quo. The relative inaction of Grumbar and the other elemental lordshas led to their being viewed as only lesser powers in the Realms and their fol-lowers being classed as cultists. Grumbar is known as Etugen in the Horde-lands, a goddess of the Elemental Plane of Earth. The distinction between amale and female form of the Earthlord makes little difference to the faith.

Grumbar receives what offerings are given him without complaint, sug-gestion, or comment, sucking them down into the earth. He is said to befond of sardonyx and jasper, and statues of him often bear eyes made of thosegemstones or rubies. His gifts to his followers are most often protective mag-ics or knowledge of the underearth’s secret places or of rich lodes of ore,though he seems to mete them out without determinable reason. Some ded-icated followers have sacrificed gemstones or carved stone art objects to himthroughout their lives and received nothing; others have merely spoken hisname favorably and then tripped over a rich vein of precious ore. During theTime of Troubles, Grumbar was not spotted in the Realms.

(30-HD Earth Elemental, Cleric 30, Mage 30)Grumbar has been seen only four times in written record in avatar form onAbeir-Toril. (The first time was during the creation of the Great Rift.) TheEarthlord appears as a huge earth elemental standing more than 25 feet tall.His footfalls sound like earthquakes as he rumbles across the land. His voiceis the pounding of one rock on another, the clacking of pebbles on a beach,or the breaking of sod with a plow. He casts spells from the elemental earthand healing spheres and the elemental earth school.

AC -4; MV 12; HP 306; THAC0 -9; #AT 2Dmg 12d8MR 50%; SZ G (27 feet)STR 25, DEX 14; CON 24, INT 19, WIS 19, CHA 10Spells P: 12/11/11/10/9/9/8, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Grumbar�s Avatar

Special Att/Def: Grumbar’s normal strategy in combat is to try andpound his opponents flat. So long as there is earth for him to walk upon or

merge into, Grumbar is considered a native of the Prime Material Plane inany crystal sphere he appears in. This makes him immune to the adverse ef-fects of such spells as anti-magic shell, protection from evil/good, and holy wordon creatures from other planes. In addition, Grumbar’s avatar is totally im-mune to any spell that would remove him from the earth (levitation, reversegravity, fly, wind walk, etc.).

Each fist of Grumbar is capable of striking through any magical protec-tions of landborne creatures with no harm to himself. Because of this ability,such protective spells as stoneskin are useless against him. Flying creatures re-tain all protections against his attacks save for those based on elementalearth magic (stoneskin, for instance).

Grumbar may leave a field of battle or the Prime Material Plane at anytime by spending two rounds merging with the earth.

Other ManifestationsGrumbar has sent manifestations more often than he has sent his avatar tothe Realms. Every appearance of an earth elemental in the Realms is viewedas direct divine intervention by the followers of Grumbar. (Of course, it fol-lows that enslaved earth elementals must be freed at any cost.) Grumbar isalso said to send servant creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth such asxorn, crysmals, khargra, or lava children to do his bidding or aid followers.Earthquakes are signs of his anger, and the location of a rich vein of metal,mineral, or gemstone ore is always viewed as a sign of his favor.

The ChurchCLERGY: Specialty priests, crusaders, monks, shamansCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, NG, LN, N, LE, NETURN UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if goodCMND. UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if neutral or evilAll specialty priests, crusaders, monks, and shamans of Grumbar receive re-ligion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency. Grumbarryn priestsare strongly encouraged to learn engineering or survival (mountain) in addi-tion to their required proficiencies. All shamans of Grumbar receive ele-mental earth as one of their major spheres in addition to their normalspheres of magic.

Before the Time of Troubles. all of the elemental cults had clerics in theirranks. Now, only specialty priests remain. Why the elemental lords decidedto convert their clerics to specialty priests is unknown, but most actions thatthey take are cryptic and difficult to grasp. Since the Godswar, the Grum-barryn church has added a small order of monks and an order of crusaders tothe church to fulfill duties in the ranks of the priesthood left ill attendedwith the loss of Grumbarryn clerics.

Members of the Grumbarryn priesthood often take it upon themselves to re-sist change at every possible turn. The expansionist activities of other churchesfrequently face opposition from devout followers of the Earthlord. This opposi-tion takes many forms, both passive and active. Priests of Grumbar and gathertogether to summon an elemental for the purpose of destroying the foundationof a church under construction, or they may instigate an armed attack againstfollowers of other powers. Their resistance to change does not limit itself toother churches, and includes changes in government, in organizations, andeven in geography. Despite their fervent resistance to change, Grumbar’s priestare not considered fanatics. Their actions tend to be well thought out, and fewof the decisions made by the church are ever arrived at in haste.

Grumbar’s priests are organized into Holds. Each Hold comprises 21priests—seven specialty priests, seven monks, and seven crusaders—and asmany members of the laity as the Hold can support. The high priest is al-ways a specialty priest. Each Hold is composed of members of a similaralignment. While this sort of organization does reduce tensions within aparticular Hold, it also causes the Grumbarryn faith to he viewed differentlyfrom region to region. Most priests stay in the same geographic area as othermembers of their Hold, but others wander the face of Faerûn, spreading theGrumbarryn faith and watching for threats to their religion. Most Holds ofdevout followers are small and their congregations and clergy members re-main intent on whatever task the Grumbarryn church elders have set themfor the year. In primitive or nomadic societies (such as those of the Tuigan),Grumbar is served by Shamans allied to no particular Hold.

Novice Grumbarryn are referred to as the Unspoken. Upon taking theOath of Landwalking, they become full priests and are known as the Oath-bound. In ascending order of rank, the titles in general use by the Oath-bound are: Faithful Bedrock, Granite Flagstone, Righteous Rock, Buttress ofthe Faith, Steadfast Pillar, Devoted Tribune, Loyal Architrave, FoundingFist, Unchanging Bastion, Surmounting Arch, Loyal Vault, and Keystone ofGrumbar. Specialty priests of Grumbar are known as earthwalkers. Monks ofGrumbar are known as Cornerstones.

Shrines and temples of Grumbar are always made of stone. Most havesplendid vaulted ceilings and walls to give the site the feeling that a wor-shiper is down within the living rock. Wood is a rare commodity in Earth-lord temples because of the church’s strong preference for stone, but gemsand other precious minerals adorn most surfaces abundantly.

Dogma: The teachings of the church are built around a strong resistanceto change, especially radical change. Important Grumbarryn followers,priest and warrior alike, are frequently portrayed in teaching stories and fa-bles that augment the faithful’s belief in the importance of resisting change.Grumbarryn doctrine also speaks of the holiness and absolute quality ofoaths. Grumbarryn take oaths with extreme seriousness and would neverbreak one upon pain of being cast out of their faith.

Novices in the Grumbarryn faith are charged as follows: “The eternalGrumbar is perfect and unchanging. Strive to be more like the eternal one,not to change or allow change to happen. One’s given word is the bedrockupon which a stable society is built. To break an oath is to cause a crack inthe foundation of civilization. Go forth and spread the word of Grumbar andshow through your works the stability and safety he brings.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Those who follow the Earthlord can often befound in public preaching against the evils of spelljamming and—to a lesserdegree—criticizing those who would board ships and set sail to unchartedlands. Seeking out new lands is a noble calling, but Grumbarryn argue thatthere are more lands left to explore on the large continent of Faerûn, Kara-tur, and Zakhara. The sentient beings of Abeir-Toril should spread outslowly and steadily to know the every crevice of its surface. Hurling oneselfinto the void of space is foolhardy recklessness at its extreme. Many of theclergy members preach that “more than enough problems exist to occupy

our time here at home without looking for new troubles.” Grumbar’s clergymembers also take stances against changes in the social code, changes ingovernment, the building of new landmarks that change the face of theland, such as dams, and changes in their own religion. Many of the olderand higher-level clergy members are still trying to ascertain what error ofconduct they committed that caused Grumbar to change all the church’sclerics into specialty priests after the Godswar.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The faithful are expected to prayto Grumbar each day upon rising and each night before resting, thanking himfor keeping the earth stable and secure yet another day. Other than this dailyceremony, the church observes two personal ceremonies and a yearly festival.

The Oath of Landwalking is a solemn promise undertaken by all mem-bers of the Grumbarryn faith upon entering the priesthood that forbids themfrom traveling through the air or by sea. Only in the most dire of circum-stances should priests of Grumbar take to the enemy element of air. Eventhen, they would probably suffer a loss of spells. Travel over water is allowedonly when the church would benefit as a result of the sacrifice. Such benefitsinclude the dedication of a branch temple or shrine in a new land, obtaininga new source of minerals or stone to replace one now mined out, or even thediscovery of a new earth-based creature.

The Brotherhood of Earth is the ceremony that Grumbarryn specialtypriests undergo that allows them, upon reaching a certain level of skill, tocall forth their elemental brothers from the Elemental Plane of Earth. Theceremony is preceded by a day of fasting and prayer, after which the elemen-tal is summoned. When it answers, it is given a gift of gems and gold to carryhack to Grumbar with the good wishes of his faithful.

On Midwinter, the church holds a festival celebrating the completion ofanother year in the eternal church of Grumbar. During this festival churchleaders and elders gather to plan the faith’s activities during the upcomingyear. These plans, once set, are never varied from during the year and canonly he changed at the next Midwinter festival.

Major Centers of Worship: Major temples to Grumbar lie hidden inthe Spine of the World Mountains, the Giantspire Mountains, theMuaraghal (the east wall of Halruaa), the Wu Pi Te Shao Mountains, andthe Orsraun Mountains. All are secret, hidden temples located in naturalcaverns or crafted with utmost skill to look like the terrain in which they areset until a traveler is almost on top of them. The southern part of theMuaraghal houses the most sacred site of the Grumbarryn church and mostGrumbarryn try to make a pilgrimage to it once in their lives.

Affiliated Orders: The Grumbarryn monastic order is known as theDisciples of the Changeless Face. They are a stoic and spartan orderwhose members preserve the knowledge of how things are so that changescan be detected and countered. The crusading order of the faith is theSardonyx Knights. This order’s members guard the holy sites of the faithagainst infidels and lead the few field actions the church undertakes.They are also responsible for punishing those members of the faith whoforswear oaths they have taken.

Priestly Vestments: Grumbarryn tend to be large, solid men, and theceremonial vestments of the faith aim to make them look as large (and intheir minds, stable) as possible. Ritual garb includes a brown cassock, beltedat the waist; a brown leather hood or hat; a huge cloak of gray-green andrust brown with artificially extended and stiffened shoulder pads that makethe wearer took as wide as she or he is tall; and platform clogs worn oversoft leather boots. The holy symbol of Grumbar, a large ruby or sardonyxcarved with Grumbar’s symbol and incorporated into a ring or pendant, isalways worn.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring priests wear travel cloaks, boots, andclothing in the same earth-tone, gray, or black colors typical of their faith,but they understand that bulky clothing that makes one look large offerslittle real protection from a knife thrust or fired arrow. Bulky armor is an-other matter entirely, and Grumbarryn wear the most protective armor theycan afford.

Speciality Priests (Earthwalkers)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:MAJOR SPHERES:MINOR SPHERES:

MAGICAL ITEMS:

REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Strength 12, Wisdom 12Strength, WisdomLG, LN, N, LEAll bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsAny, but the bulkier the betterAll, Elemental earth, combat, healing, protectionDivination, elemental fire, elemental water. necroman-tic, travelers, wardsSame as clerics, except forbidden from using magicalitems with air-based or flying effects (flying carpet, ring offeather falling, cloak of the bat, etc.)StonemasonryGem cutting or mountaineering (pick one)

• Mountain dwarves, duergar, gnomes (rock gnomes), and svirfneblinmay be earthwalkers, though the cultural peer pressure against dwarvesand gnomes walking such a life path is very strong in their societies.

• Earthwalkers may cast wizard spells from the elemental earth school inaddition to priest spells. These spells are cast as if the earthwalker werea mage of the same level. For example, a 3rd-level earthwalker castswizard spells as a 3rd-level mage. Earthwalkers pray for their wizardspells instead of studying to memorize them, and chosen wizard spellsreplace priest spells potentially available for use that day. (In otherwords, the wizard spell occupies a priest spell slot.) Earthwalkers gainaccess to 8th-level wizard spells at 16th level and 9th-level wizardspells at 18th level. An earthwalker must have a Wisdom of 18 orhigher and an Intelligence of 16 to gain access to the 8th level spells,and a Wisdom of 18 or higher and an Intelligence of 18 to gain accessto the 9th-level spells. If an earthwalker is able to gain high-level wiz-ard spells, every 8th-level spell prayed for occupies a 6th-level priestspell slot and every 9th-level spell prayed for occupies a 7th-level priestspell slot. Earthwalkcrs are always able to read elemental earth spellson scrolls or in wizard spellbooks as if they knew read magic (but study-ing spells from a spellbook is useless to them). No more than three-quarters of an earthwalker’s total number of spells available (rounddown) can be taken as wizard spells.

• All earthwalkers gain a +2 bonus to saving throws vs. the harmful ef-fects of earth-related spells and pelletlike, granular, or electrical breathweapons.

• As Grumbar’s boon to them, earthwalkers are not deterred in theirmovement by any type of metal armor or armor fashioned of other ma-terials mined from the earth. In fact, this type of armor feels as light asair to them. They do not count the weight of such armor against theircarrying limits, nor does it affect their encumbrance.

• At 5th level, earthwalkers can summon one 8-HD earth elemental oncea day. This elemental remains under the control of the earthwalkcr forone hour and cannot be taken control of by another creature. It thesummoner is killed or struck unconscious, the summoned elementalgoes on a rampage,attacking everyone in sight except its summoneruntil its one-hour time limit upon the Prime Material has elapsed. It isimportant to note that the elemental summoned is not a servant of theearthwalker, but rather is looked upon as an agent of Grumbar that is tobe respected. The ability to summon an elemental is granted once eachday when earthwalkers receive their normal complement of spells.

• At 7th level, earthwalkers have the ability to cast stoneskin (as the 4th-level wizard spell) once per day.

• At 9th level, earthwalkers have the ability to cast earthenport (as the5th-level priest spell) once per day.

l At 9th level, earthwalkers can summon one 12-HD earth elementalonce a tenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD earth elemental.

l At 13th level, earthwalkers can summon one 16-HD earth elementalonce a tenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD earth elemental.

l At 15th level, earthwalkers can move through the Elemental Plane ofEarth without need for food, water, or air.

Helm(He of the Unsleeping Eyes, the Watcher,the Vigilant, the Vigilant One, the Great Guard,the God of Guardians)

I n t e r m e d i a t e P o w e r o f M e c h a n u s , L N

l Earthwalkers who work together can summon an elemental of greaterHit Dice than they would otherwise be able to alone. For example, a5th- and 9th-level priest could summon a 16-HD elemental. As long asboth summoners remain alive, the elemental remains under their con-trol for one full hour. If one of the summoners is killed or struck un-conscious, the summoned elemental goes on a rampage, attackingeveryone in sight until its one-hour time limit upon the Prime Materialhas elapsed. It then returns to the Elemental Plane of Earth. The par-ticipants in such a combined summoning attempt must abide by timerestrictions for further elemental summoning apportioned by their lev-els. In the above case, the 5th-level priest would have summoned his 8-HD elemental forthe day and the 9th-levelmoned her 12-HDelemental for the tenday.

priest would have sum-

Grumbarryn Spells3rd LevelEarthenair (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental EarthRange: 60 yardsComponents: V, S, M

InstantaneousDuration:Casting Time: 6Area of Effect: 10-foot-sphere surrounding a designated target creatureSaving Throw: ½This spell causesthe earth surrounding the target creature to surge upwardand inward in aviolent eruption of dirt and rock. The number of rockscreated by the spell is 1d4 plus the level of the caster. Each rock causes 1point of damageto the target, disrupting spellcasting and counting as onesuccessful attack for purposes of the stoneskin spell. The rocks are consid-ered to be magical missile weapons for purposes of determining whether atarget can be successfully attacked by them.

This spell does not work if the target is standing on a solid stone surface(such as bedrock, not flagstone) unless the caster is 10th level or higher.The earth remains somewhat scarred where earthenair is cast unless it isphysically tidied up after the spell is finished.

The material component for the spell is the priest’s holy symbol and ahandful of pebbles that are hurled toward the target.

5th LevelEarthenport (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental EarthRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 2 turnsCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: NoneWhen this spell is cast, priests becomes attuned to the rock surroundingthem, allowing them to use rocks of at least the same volume as them-selves and the nonliving material they carry asteleport gateways. This givesthe priest (alone) the ability to teleport withouterror to any location on thePrime Material Plane that has a large outcropping of rock. Priests take 1turn to travel from their original location to their new location. Duringthe first five rounds they are fading into the rock from their startingpointand during the last five rounds they are emerging from the rock at theirdestination. After the end of the last round of the spell’s duration, theymay act normally; until then they are visible, but immune and intangibleto all magical, physical, and psionic attacks except transmute rock to mud,dig, stoneshape or similar spells.

Use of this spell is not without its dangers, however. Should the priestbe the target of a transmute rock to mud, dig, stoneshape or similar spell dur-ing the spell’s duration, the priest suffers 4d6 points of damage (no savingthrow allowed) and must make a successful saving throw vs. spell or bestunned for 1d4 rounds.

PORTFOLIO: Guardians, protectors, protectionALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Mechanus/EverwatchSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: TormFOES: Bane (now dead), Bhaal (now dead), Garagos, Mask,

Shar, TalosSYMBOL: An open, staring eye with a blue pupil and outl ine

painted on the back of a right-hand war gauntlet or thepalm of a left-hand war gauntlet

WOR. ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CNHelm (HELM) is the epi tome of the guardian, thewatcher, the guard, and has in years past been greatlyvenerated by those who need to remain watchful for evilat their doorsteps. He was once a tnuch more powerfulgod, but has fallen upon hard times through two actions.During the Time of Troubles, Helm was left with hispowers and ordered to hold the gates to the Outer Planesagainst the other powers of the Realms when the other

deities were stripped of their power and confined to the surface of Abeir-Toril. Helm did so all too successfully, and much of the resulting destructionand deific turmoil caused by the many divine deaths of the Godswar is laidat his feet.

Helm remained strong in the South, but experienced a further setbackwhen his priests became deeply involved in an invasion of the True World ofMaztica. Their unflinching and often brutal actions counted further againstthe god’s reputation. Because of the inflexible and cold reputation those ac-tions gained him, Helm’s star is fading at a time when Torm and Gond areattracting new followers.

Helm is difficult to understand and is often viewed as emotionless, heart-less, and devoted only to his duty or goal at the cost of all mortal considera-tion. While he is devoted to the point of obsession, he is not heartless, butmerely a stern disciplinarian. He is fond of children and has been known tobe most uncharacteristically lenient (for Helm) when dealing with small in-fractions by them or on their behalf.

In attempting to comprehend Helm’s driven nature, many mortal sageshave attempted to account for him throwing himself into his work by blam-ing his behavior on a broken heart caused by long-unrequited or spurnedlove. Others say he lost a great love to tragedy or eternally grieves for a lostrelative, such as a brother, sister, or child. Still others account for his behav-ior more coldly as a burning ambition to become the greatest of deities.Helm has never given credence to any of these theories, as he considers suchspeculations frivolous use of time that could be spent more honestly at pro-ductive work.

Helm�s Avatar (Fighter 35, Cleric 23)Since the Time of Troubles, Helm has been increasingly reluctant to appearin Faerûn in avatar form, typically doing so only when a senior priest ortemple is directly threatened and he is called upon. Helm always appears asa giant man in full plate armor, his face concealed by his helm. His heightvaries from one appearance to the next. He can draw spells from any sphere.

AC -5; MV 15 or Fl 24; HP 222; THAC0 -10; #AT 5/2Dmg 2d4+15 (bastard sword +3, +10 STR, +2 spec. bonus in melee weapons)MR 65%; SZ H (anywhere from 14 to 20 feet)STR 22, DEX 18, CON 21, INT 19, WIS 24, CHA 17Spells P: 13/12/12/12/12/9/3Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: If the God of Guardians appears in a place too small topermit his full height, only his upper torso appears, floating and flying aboutat the given flying rate. Helm may use any sort of weapon and is consideredspecialized in all forms of melee weapons; he has most often been seen wield-ing a bastard sword +3 two-handed. He can surround himself with a ring offloating shields that reflect back all magic, psionic, breath weapon, and gazeattacks 100% at their sources if he wishes, rather than cast a spell during around. If a shield is destroyed, it explodes into a 100-foot-long cone of cold 20

feet in diameter directed at the being that destroyed it. This cone of colddoes 6d12 points of damage. These shields are AC 0, move at MV Fl 24(A), and have 66 hp.

Helm can also unleash a 100-foot-long cone of cold 20 feet in diameterthat does 9d12 points of damage by raising the visor of his helm, or he canchoose instead to emit a dispel magic or disintegrate cone of identical dimen-sions from his helm. Helm can see through all illusions, see invisible crea-tures and items, and locate object at will. He cannot be knocked down oroverthrown; he stands firm against all known explosions, forces, earth-quakes, and eruptions. He is immune to spells, spell-like abilities, andpsionic abilities that charm, alter emotions, or dominate the will.

Helm can awaken any or all beings who worship him whenever he ispresent in Faerûn. At his desire, all guardians and defenders who worshiphim wake up and become alert. He banishes all sleepiness, weakness,nausea, or magics that place his guardians and defenders under the influ-ence of others (such as charm spells). These conditions are ended, notmerely suspended.

Other ManifestationsHelm often manifests as an upright, palm-out metal gauntlet making a�stop� or warding gesture or a closed, watchful war helm. From such imagesemanate heal or imbue with spell ability spells to aid or empower guardians,defensive magical barriers, wardmist magics, fields that reveal illusions andhidden or disguised attackers for what they truly are, and beams that forceout-of-phase, ethereal, astral, or otherwise inaccessible beings fully intophase on the Prime Material Plane on Faerûn so they can be attacked byguardians. It is rare for offensive spells to lash out from a manifestation ofHelm, but it has occurred. Most often such spells come from the war helmapparition and tend to be thin beams of lightning.

When Helm manifests, all guardians and defenders within 10 mileswake up and become alert. He banishes all sleepiness, weakness, nausea, ormagics that place guardians and defenders under the influence of others(such as charm spells). These conditions are ended, not merely suspendedwhile the power of Helm is present.

Helm also sometimes works through the presence or action of einheriar,helmed horrors, spectators, maruts, watchghosts, and living steels. In addi-tion, Helm can choose to send vivid warnings in dreams, and if a believersleeps touching an unsheathed weapon, the visions imparted to the be-liever by Helm can sometimes also be seen by the next being to touch theweapon, regardless of how much time has passed. Weapons consecrated toHelm can also thrum, sing, glow, dance, or vibrate in warning when the goddesires them to.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, monks, paladinsCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LG, LN, NTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: No, Mon; No, Pal: YesCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Cru: No, Mon; No, Pal: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, and monks of Helm receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Prior to the Time of Troubles, Helm was a well-respected faith in mostareas of the North. Its large temple complexes were usually situated neardangerous and evil areas (such as Darkhold) and were regarded as a firstline of defense against evil people and creatures. Wracked by defections inthe wake of the Time of Troubles, active persecution in the North by thoseangry that Helm forced the destructive divine avatars to remain in Faerûn,and military and popularity losses related to the invasion of the True World(Maztica), the Vigilant or Watchful Ones (priests of Helm) have been indecline. They have only recently begun to recover popular favor and influ-ence, strength, and organization under the unflinching, no-excuses leader,ship of the veteran priests of Helm from before the Time of Troubles knownas the Tested and True. Most of these folk are people of inflexible beliefsand loyalty. They believe that Helm is the most favored of all the powers,for he was chosen to retain his powers to discipline the others.

Fighting their way back from a reputation that brands many dead magicareas �the Legacy of Helm,� the Tested and the True are having a toughtime, but one which their strong discipline and the almost military hierar-chy of the church of Helm are well suited to handle. All know their posi-tion by their rank within the church of Helm, and Helm himself sets thegoals for his high priests and priestesses, determining what temples,abbeys, and shrines are to cooperate with each other in which ongoing ef-forts.

Titles used by the clergy of Helm are (in ascending order of rank):Novice, Adept, Trusty, Alert, Watchknight, Guardian, Overblade, High

Major Centers of Worship: The most prominent center of Helm�sfaith is the Noble Hand in Tsurlagol. The Noble Hand is both a temple anda training school for professional guards. It flourishes under High WatchfulWeaponmaster Ellym �Catsjaw� Thourin, a retired adventurer of some rep-utation. Helm�s worship is also still very strong in the Vilhon Reach andalso in the South. The Temple of the Vigilant Guard in Iljak, led by BattleMarshal Senior Steeleye Tonorak Winthrax, is a bastion of the Helmitefaith in the Vilhon Reach.

Watcher, and Senior Steeleye (a title applied to all senior clergy). Thesehave been adopted only since the Time of Troubles, and members of theTested and True and Watchers (specialty priests, derisively known as�Godseyes�) have been allowed to retain any older, personal, or variant ti-tles. Clergy who lead or occupy an important office in a temple, abbey, ormonastery may also bear additional titles pertaining to their duties.

Dogma: �He also serves who stands and waits and watches carefully�and �Careful planning always defeats rushed actions in the end� are popularsayings of Helm�s faithful. Novices of Helm are charged to be vigilant andto be fair and diligent in the conduct of their orders. They must protect theweak, the unpopular, the injured, and the young and not sacrifice them forothers. They must anticipate attacks and be ready, know their foes, and carecarefully for their weapons so that their weapons can perform their dutiesproperly when called upon.

�Never betray your trust� is the guiding phrase for faithful of Helm. Thisphilosophy extends to thinking about how best to guard and protect, bothin terms of weapons and the deployment of guardians, and to anticipatingwhat attacks may come and having a practiced plan ready to deal with suchthreats. The faithful and the priests of Helm train and exercise so as to al-ways be able to carry out their duties as best they can.

Helmites always obey orders, provided those orders follow the dictates ofHelm. Helm's wishes are often revealed to his faithful in response to on-the-spot prayer (often via an omen spell). He is very responsive in sendingguiding vision, especially when his faithful face conflicting orders or direc-tives, even from his senior clergy. The thought of commanding undeadrather than turning them or destroying them is abhorrent to Helm, and sohis clergy are not allowed to do so and would never dream of trying. Thisdifference in philosophy is a major factor in the rivalry between his churchand that of Torm.

Day-to-Day Activities: Helmite clergy believe they can win back therightful power of Helm only through demonstrated excellence of vigilanceand purity of loyalty in their roles as guardians and protectors. They haveset about trying to train bodyguards everywhere and spreading the wordthat only Helm-tested worshipers of the God of Guardians are truly worthyand reliable to their masters.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The Helmite faith always holds aCeremony of Honor to Helm on each Shieldmeet, but its members observeno other calendar-related rituals to the God of Guardians.

On a daily basis, worshipers of Helm should always pray to the VigilantOne upon awakening and before composing themselves for slumber. Afaithful worshiper who poses a question to the god typically receives somesort of (often cryptic) guidance in dream visions. Helm may also grace anonbeliever who is growing interested in his faith with such visions.

The most holy major Helmite ceremonies are the Consecration of a Pos-tulant, which is the dedication of a being seeking to be confirmed as one ofthe clergy of the church of Helm, and the Consecration of a Glymtul,which is a dedication of a special item to Helm�s service (glymtul is an an-cient word for �favored thing�). Other ceremonies of note are the Purifica-tion and the Holy Vigil. The Purification is a renewal of faith undergone bybeings returning to the faith or atoning for a shortcoming in vigilance, loy-alty, or worship. The Holy Vigil ceremony marks the ascension of a priest toa higher rank. It is a night-long ceremony of concentration in which apriest, by will power alone, keeps his or her weapon floating in midair. Theweapon is enspelled by a senior priest through ritual magic to levitate, andthe vigilance of the priest observing the ritual keeps it hovering.

Affiliated Orders: The members of the Companions of the One TrueVision, an order of Helmite clerics, fighters, and crusaders, were known forbeing unswervingly loyal shock troops able to follow orders asking them toengage the most difficult objectives without breaking and hold the mosttrying positions against overwhelming odds. Recently, however, membersof this order, many of whom served in the Helmite actions in Maztica havetaken a beating in popular reputation. Other affiliated Helmite orders in-clude a small fellowship of battlefield healer known as the Watchers Overthe Fallen, a group of dedicated bodyguards whom Helmite temples hireout to others to generate revenue called the Everwatch Knights, and anorder of paladins called the Vigilant Eyes of the God.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Helm wear spotless, shining, (ofteneverbright - enchanted), unblemished full plate armor with open-facedhelms (a visor reduces vision). Often the helms are topped with plumes.Such armor may be accessorized with red cloaks and tabards of steel gray,and such garments—or the armor itself—may be adorned with the Un-sleeping Eye in the center of both back and breast. In southern regions,Helmite clergy members often wear the finest full plate armor set withgems and worked with gold f i l igree in designs that accentuate greatgolden eyes set in the centers of their chests (on the breastplates) andbacks. In areas where heavily armored clerics are frowned on, the armor isreduced to a set of heavy shoulder plates, but the helm remains in anycase.

Adventuring Garb: Because of the useful nature of the ceremonialgear of the priests of Helm, it is worn in the field as well as for ceremonialpurposes, unless it is decorated with such costly materials that the priestfears it will attract thieves, in which case a more utilitarian version of thesame full plate armor is worn. In either case, the armor is dominated bythe symbol of Helm’s eve on the chest, often shown in a sunburst or as thetopmost level of a stepped pyramid.

M AJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, combat, divination, guardian, protection,sun, wards

Specialty Priests (Watchers)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 14, Wisdom 13PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : L NWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: All armor types up to and including full plate armor

and shield

M INOR SPHERES: Creation, elemental, healing, warMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, plus the use of crystal balls as wizardsREQ. PROFS: NoneBONUS PROFS: Blind-fighting, etiquette• The ceremonial vestment of a watcher is a suit of full plate armor and

a shield. Watchers receive a suit of full plate armor, an open-facedgreat helm, and a medium shield for free at 1st level. Watchers mustwear their full plate armor or no armor at all except in emergencies orwhen specially sanctioned by a senior clergy member or high priest.Wearing other armor is not forbidden but is sanctioned by severe dis-approval in the ranks of the church for minor infringements. (Viola-tors are assigned boring or unpleasant duties.) Repeated violations arefrowned on by Helm himself, who then imposes a -50% experiencepoint penalty to all activities a watcher undertakes in other armor andrefuses to grant new spells to the offending watcher until she or heatones and behaves properly. Therefore, if anything happens to thefull plate armor of a watcher, she or he must make every effort to ac-quire a new set or wear no armor at all unless in the most dire circum-stances (such as where lack of armor would result in them failing attheir trust) or on a holy mission for their church.

• Watchers gain an advantage against being surprised. A watcher gets a+2 bonus on his or her surprise roll. If accompanied by others who arenot watchers, this is reduced to a +1. This benefit is not cumulativewith other advantages to surprise, but it may be affected by penalties.For instance, a lone, unarmored elf thief trying to sneak up on awatcher would still cause the watcher to subtract 4 from his or her sur-prise roll, but this is cumulative with the watcher’s +2 bonus.

• Watchers may create a short-term glyph of warding (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell) once a day that lasts only one day per level. Watchers maychoose the effects of these glyphs from those spells they would be capa-ble of casting at their current level, regardless of the sphere of the spell in-volved. This allows them to create glyphs based on any spell not specificto a particular church or group that a priest of their level could cast.

• At 3rd level, watchers are able to cast sentry of Helm (as the 1st-levelpriest spell) or wyvern watch (as the second-level priest spell) once aday.

• At 5th level, watchers are able to cast mace of Odo or exaltation (as the3rd-level priest spells) once a day.

• At 7th level, watchers are able to cast seeking sword (as the 4th-levelpriest spell) once a day.

• At 7th level, watchers can make three melee attacks every tworounds.

• At 10th level, watchers are able summon spectator (as the 5th-levelpriest spell) once a tenday.

• At 13th level, watchers can make two melee attacks per round.

Helmite Spells

1st LevelSentry of Helm (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Guardian, TravelersRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration:Casting Time:Area of Effect:Saving Throw:

8 hours or until triggered1 hour120-foot-diameter sphereNone

This spell was created by the priests of Helm to aid in guard duty while mostmembers of a group of travelers in the wild are sleeping. Like the 1st-levelwizard spell unseen servant, this spell creates an invisible, mindless, andshapeless force. This force cannot fight and, unlike an unseen servant, it can-nor affect its physical surrounding except as indicated below.

The priest casts this spell by walking the perimeter of thearea of effectsprinkling pinches of sand every few feet and then returning to the center ofthe area of effect. Once the spellcasting is completed,the shadowy sentrystands guard in the center of the area ofeffect and thecaster immediatelyfalls asleep.

If any visible object over 1 foot in length, width, or height which was notpresent during the casting of the spell enters the area of effect while the spellis in operation or if the spell is about to end, the shadowy force silently

A visible object must be an object that a guard could have

shakes the caster awake. When the caster awakes, the priest is wide awake

perceived with

and aware that something has triggered the sentry or that the spell has

normal vision if she or he had been awake and on guard duty.

ended. The spell then immediately expires.

Visible objectscannot be invisible, hiding in shadows, or hidden behind walls, trees, or earth.

If this spell is cast by by a priest of 5th level or higher, the sentry of Helmalsohas 60-foot infravision in addition to normalsight, and what is visible to itincludes beings seen with that faculty.

The material component of this spell is the priest’s holy symbol and asmall bag of fine sand.

3rd LevelExaltation (Abjuration, Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Combat, HealingRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell enables a priest to aid and protect any one other being. The priestcannot cast this spell upon himself or herself. By touch, the caster removesthe effects of fear, sleep, feeblemindedness, hunger, pain, nausea, uncon-sciousness, intoxication, and insanity from the spell recipient (who may beof any alignment or faith). The recipient is protected against spells andother attacks that cause these effects for the duration of the spell. Such ef-fects are negated, not postponed until the spell expires.

When this spell is cast on a being of a different alignment and faith thanthe caster, the recipient must make a saving throw vs. spell even if willing tohave the spell cast on him or her. If the saving throw is successful, the spellis lost and has no effect.

If the spell recipient is of the same alignment as the priest but of a differ-ent faith, the saving throw is at a -4 penalty. If the spell is successful, the ex-alted recipient receives a +1 morale bonus to any morale checks and +1 re-action adjustment for surprise checks for the spell duration.

If the spell recipient worships the same deity as the caster but is of an-other alignment, the saving throw is at a -6 penalty. A successfully exaltedrecipient gets a +1 morale bonus to any morale checks for the spell duration.

A recipient of the same faith and alignment as the caster need make nosaving throw, gets a +2 morale bonus to any morale checks for the spell du-ration, and—if the caster desires—radiates a white, blue-white, or amber ra-diance for the duration of the spell. If the radiance is desired, it is evoked im-mediately and cannot be ended before the spell expires.

The material components for this spell are a flask of holy water and apowdered sapphire or diamond of at least 1000 gp value.

Forceward (Abjuration)Sphere: WardsRange: 0

Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: Sphere of 10-foot-radius/levelSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a spherical area of protection. The air within glowsfaintly. This radiance is barely visible in full sunlight, but the area is clearlylit in darkness. When forceward is cast, all creatures except those touchedor named by the priest in the spellcasting must make a saving throw vs.spell or be forced away from the caster for 10 feet per level of the caster,withdrawing immediately. This forceward is then fixed at a location cen-tered on the where the caster was when the spell was completed; it does notmove withthe caster.

Warded creatures must remain outside the protected area for the spell du-ration unless they make a successful saving throw vs. spell at a -3 penalty tobreak into the warded area. Creatures attempting to break in are allowedone such saving throw per round. Any creature breaking through the force-ward may move and act freely within its confines, but cannot confer freedomfrom the forceward to others, even by attempting to drag them along.

Any creature may freely leave the warded area but must successfullymake a saving throw vs. spell (with the -3 penalty) to reenter, even if origi-nally designated as protected when the spell was cast or if successful earlierin breaching the forceward. Missiles and spells may be launched freely intoand out of the warded area.

The forceward ends instantly if the casting priest leaves its confines, isslam or rendered unconscious, or wills the ward out of existence. The castermay engage in spellcasting without affectingthe forceward; continuous con-centration is not required to maintain it. Asuccessful dispel magic spell de-stroys a forceward instantly.

The material components are a string of gems, rock crystals, or glassbeads, plus the caster’s holy symbol.

Mace of Odo (Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 0Components: V. S, MDuration: Until it successfully strikes or 4 rounds, whichever

Casting Tune:comes first1 round

damage to most creatures; it does 4d6 points of damage to undead creatures.Creatures of 2 HD or less suffer only 1 point of damage when struck by amace of Odo but must make a successful saving throws vs. paralyzation or beparalyzed for 1d4+1 turns. Whenever a mace of Odo successfully strikes orfour rounds after the round of its casting (whichever comes first), the macevanishes instantly in a burst of white radiance equal to a continual light spell.

Area of Effect: One magical macelike constructSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell enables a priest to create a magical mace in his or her hand. Amace of Odo is actually a mace-shaped construct of force. It is translucent,but glows bright white. Its radiance equal in effect to a light spell, though itcannot be extinguished by darkness spells. The mace of Odo can be wieldedimmediately when casting is complete, or it can be held for up to threerounds. All spells cast directly at the bearer of a mace of Odo are absorbed

points ofharmlessly by the mace; area-of-effect spells are not affected by the mace.

A mace of Odo strikes at a +5 bonus to attack rolls and does 3d6

The material components for this spell are a stone, a piece of wood, andtwo drops of holy water.

4th LevelSeeking Sword (Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 30 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 2 rounds/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One magical swordlike constructSaving Throw: NoneThis spell brings into being a shimmering blade of force that appears as asword of any description the caster desires, typically a broad sword. Thesword forms in midair and is animated by the will of the caster (who neednever touch it), flashing about as it attacks. The blade is silent and movesat MV FL 96 (A), although it cannot move beyond spell range from thecaster. The blade can strike four times per round, doing 2d4 points of dam-age with each successful hit.

Although it has no attack bonuses, a seeking sword is considered a +4magical weapon for determining what sorts of beings it can strike. It canstrike nonliving objects and can be wielded dexterously enough to liftlatches, slide bolts open or shut, turn pages of books, and so on. The castermay freely move the sword from target to target unless physical or magicalbarriers (such as a wall of force) are in the way, but the caster must concen-trate on the blade to maintain its existence and direct it. Other spellcastingis impossible while maintaining the spell, though the caster may move athalf his or her normal movement rate per round while doing so.

A seeking sword moves with Strength enough to parry and hold back an-other blade wielded by a strong human or humanoid. It can be used to shat-ter glass objects, spike open doors, puncture sacks, or search for unseen op-ponents by sweeping through apparently empty spaces or across windowsillsand thresholds.

The material components for this spell are a drop of mercury and ahuman hair.

5th LevelSummon Spectator (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Summoning, ProtectionRange: 70 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThe annals of the church of Helm relate that in ancient tunes Helm, He ofthe Unsleeping Eyes, created the ultimate guardian to assist his necessarilyfallible human followers. This creature, known as a spectator, appeared as alarge orb dominated by an unblinking central eye with four stalks sproutingfrom the top of the orb to watch in each of the cardinal directions. In a darktune in the church’s distant history, the forces of evil gained the upper handfor a while. During this bleak period, various gods of evil corrupted Helm’screations into the horrors known as beholders and their kin. Priests of Baneclaim this is so much hogwash; they believe that the Black Lord created theeye tyrants as the ultimate rulers, and spectators are Helm’s poor attempt atcopying Bane’s magnificent creation. The truth is unknown, althoughpriests of Helm are known to destroy beholders and their kin wherever pos-sible, and the remaining priests of Bane (and Xvim) return the favor tospectators whenever possible.

This spell enables priests of Helm to summon nearly infallible guardiansto assist in their ordained tasks. Summon spectator summons one of Helm’sspectator servitors from Mechanus to the Prime Material Plane to serve forup to 101 years in a specified task. (Spectators are detailed under the Be-holder and Beholder-kin entry in the MONSTROUS MANUAL™ tome.) Thetask must involve the guarding of some location or inanimate physical ob-ject, such as a portal, shrine, or a holy relic. (The scope of things a specta-tor summoned by summon spectator will guard is broader than what onesummoned by the particular variant of the 7th-level wizard spell monstersummoning V that normally summons spectators will guard.) It allows noone except the one who summoned it or another priest of Helm to enterthe location it is guarding or to use, borrow, or examine an item or treasureit watches over. It is not gullible and can fairly easily detect false claims tomembership in Helm’s priesthood by questioning such claimants telepathi-cally about details of the church’s rituals and beliefs.

A summoned spectator does not abandon its post unless slain or blindedin all five eyes, in which case it automatically returns to Helm’s tower inMechanus. Its eyes regenerate in 24 hours, after which time it returns to itspost. If the object is gone or the location breached when it returns (it canautomatically tell), it again leaves for Mechanus, never to return.

The material components for this spell are the priests holy symbol and asteel gauntlet blessed in the name of Helm; the latter is consumed in thecasting.

Ibrandul (Dead)(Lord of the Dry Depths, the Skulking God,Lurker in Darkness)Lesser Power of Pandemonium, CN

PORTFOLIO: Caverns, dungeons, the Underdark, skulksALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Formerly Phlegethon/Ibrandyllaran; currently adrift in

the Astral Plane

CG, N, CN, NE, CEWorshipers in Calimshan and other areas of theShining South claim that Ibrandul (Ih-BRAN-duhl)watchesover humans who must venture into hostileunderground areas, aiding and guiding those whoserve him when they are in need. Ibrandul’s worshipbeganin the prehistory of Calimshan, even beforethe founding of the Shoon Empire, which is nowknown as Iltkazar. Some tune after the defeat of the

NoneMask, IlmaterShar, Lathander, LolthFour interlocking silver circles on a dark purple back-ground

WOR. ALIGN.:

SUPERIOR:ALLIES:FOES:SYMBOL:

Djen, a tribe of nomadic humans was abducted from the Calim Desert bydark elf raiders from the city of Guallidurth, located deep beneath thedesert sands. These humans served the drow as slaves for centuries, unableto flee the subterranean city because of their fear of the all-envelopingdarkness.

The humans eventually escaped when a monstrous lizard emerged fromthe darkness, drove off the dark elf overseers, and led the slaves into thesurrounding wilds of the Underdark. Some of the former slaves eventuallyreturned to the surface and brought with them tales of the Lord of the DarkDepths to the tribes of the surface. Others remained in the dark tunnels,living in small, nomadic bands and subsisting by raiding the farms and car-avan of the drow of Guallidurth and the humans of the surface. The sub-terranean dwellers slowly evolved into skulks—a cowardly race of hu-manoids with chameleonlike abilities—through a side-effect of one of thespells granted by the Skulking God. Both the humans of the surface and theskulks of the Underdark continue to worship Ibrandul, albeit with slightlydifferent representations and sets of beliefs. Since then Ibrandul’s worshiphas quietly spread to many locations with access to the Underdark, includ-ing Undermountain beneath Mt. Waterdeep.

During the Time of Troubles, Ibrandul was spotted wandering the Un-derdark beneath Waterdeep. Unbeknownst to his worshipers, Ibrandul waskilled during the Godswar by Shar. The now-petrified remains of his avatarare believed to lie at the bottom of a vast chasm in a lost level of Under-mountain. Shar has always jealously guarded her rulership over darknessand those who work in it, and when Ibrandul was tremendously weakenedby being forced into a minor avatar form (as all the powers were) during theTune of Troubles, Shar killed him for daring to subvert followers away fromher ranks. When the gods ascended to the heavens, Shar had acquired thepower and portfolio of Ibrandul. Shar’s guise as Ibrandul is quite useful toher, allowing her to subvert the worship of her hated enemy Selûne withoutdrawing attention to her most faithful worshipers, the nightcloaks.Shar/Ibrandul enjoys the delicious irony of secretly eroding the power ofthe Lady of Silver, particularly in the city of Waterdeep, one of the seats ofSelûne’s power.

Ibrandul was a taciturn and moody power, and Shar stills plays him assuch when she speaks for him or has one of her avatars behave and appear ashis used to. He displayed all intense emotions simply by flicking his tongueor blinking his eyes at a quicker pace. He radiated an aura of gloom, dark-ness, and ages long forgotten. He was always restless, wanting to stalk offinto the dark and roam the tunnels of the Underdark searching for thosemight harm his followers.

Ibrandul�s Avatar (Mage 24, Fighter 20, Cleric 17)Ibrandul (currently played by Shar) favors two forms, the Stalker and theSkulker. The Stalker is a monstrous lizard of the depths that looks like a firelizard with a long, thick tall. He has a gray-scaled body with a red-and-brown-mottled back and a reddish underside. He resembles a wingless, elongated reddragon. The Stalker is said to roam the endless caverns of Pandemoniumhunting other predators and is the form most commonly portrayed in reli-gious art in Calimshan and the Sword Coast North.

The Skulker might he mistaken for a stone golem or earth elemental. Heappears to be a humanoid of black and gray stone worn smooth as if long ex-posed to the eroding force of howling winds. The Skulker has no specific fa-cial features, but his eye patches glow like cool magma in utter darkness.The Skulker frequently shapechanges to alter his appearance, taking theshape of anything from a chisel-featured, bare-chested massive humanknown to natives of Calimshan to that of a stony roperlike creature knownto the drow. The Skulker prefers to appear to mortals while lurking in per-fect darkness where he is visible only by his glowing eyes and to aid or hin-der others through wit and voices in the gloom.

In either form, Ibrandul can cast spells from any school or sphere ofmagic. He favors spells from the spheres of elemental earth, sun (reversed,darkness-creating effects only), and travelers, and cannot cast spells thatcreate light for more than a single instant. (Hence, for example, he can castfireball, which has an instantaneous duration, but cannot cast glitterdust.)

AC -2; MV 12 (Stalker) or 15 (Skulker), HP 188, THAC0 1; #AT 5 (Stalker) or 2(Skulker)Dmg 1d12+11/1d12+11/1d12+11/1d12+11/2d10+11 (claw/claw/claw/claw/bite, +11Str) or 2d10+11 (bludgeoning appendage¥2, +11 Str)MR 55%; SZ G (up to 60 feet in length—Stalker) or M to H (6 feet to 16 feet—Skulker)Str 23, Dex 19, Con 23, Int 21, Wis 19, Cha 17Spells P: 10/9/9/8/5/3/2, W: 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/4Saves PPDM 3, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: The Stalker can attack five times per round—four at-tacks with his claws and one with his powerful bite. Regardless of the shapehe assumes, the Skulker bludgeons opponents with two powerful appendagesthat may resemble arms, tentacles, or something else

Ibrandul (in either form) can stand motionless against any rock face andremain completely undetectable by any nonmagical means. He can sink di-rectly into the wall and move uninhibited within it at will, yet still observeevents outside the wall as if he were standing in the open air. He can alsonegate any blindness penalty to his attack rolls (see below) by striking fromwithin a stone wall (provided he can reach his target).

Ibrandul can see in perfect darkness as if he were standing in broad day-light, but he suffers a blindness penalty (-4) if exposed to light with the min-imum brightness of a continual light spell. However, he can create darkness,15’ radius at will in addition to his normal attacks or spellcaating to combatthis weakness.

As a creature of wind-ridden Pandemonium, Ibrandul has learned toshape stone with his breath. He can expertly carve any kind of rock to hisliking, including the most intricate detail, at the rate of 1 square foot perround. Ibrandul uses this powerful stone shape ability to create anything fromnatural altars to navigable passageways in the Underdark to stone darts.

Other ManifestationsIbrandul commonly manifests as sounds: footsteps around the bend, breath-ing (which is often mistaken for wind moaning in the caverns), drippingwater (often in arid regions of the Underdark), cave-ins (which rumble inunderstandable words and phrases), and in curious rock formations and ero-sion patterns. Many adventurers aided by Ibrandul have no idea that theyhave been visited by him; rather, they find themselves guided to their desti-nations by avoiding natural hazards and following peculiar-yet-naturalsigns—typically a trail of warm spots on tunnel walls (visible by infravisionand lasting for only a few moments per spot). Ibrandul sometimes worksthrough free-willed earth elementals, horgars (giant sluglike creatures thattunnel through the earth by melting stone), ibrandlin and other lizards ofall sizes, skulks, oozes (gray and crystal varieties), and will o’ deeps (see theRAVENLOFT® MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Appendix III, Creatures of Dark-ness).

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: N, CN, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, if neutral, SP: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, if evil, SP: NoAll clerics and specialty priests of Ibrandul receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.

Any creature who loved the darkness with a passion used to be able tojoin Ibrandul’s priesthood. Shar (masquerading as Ibrandul) now keepswatch over the sect of Ibrandul and grants his priests their spells. Shar ispleased with her new followers and makes all new initiates specialty priests,although numerous clerics of Ibrandul—about 20% of the total clergy—stillexist from prior to the Fall of the Gods. Ibrandul’s clergy members used toinclude a few gray druids (druids with the Underdark as their primary ter-ram, as discussed in the Complete Druid’s Handbook), but since the Time ofTroubles they have stopped receiving spells from the Lord of the Dry Depthsand now worship dwarf, gnome, or other Underdark deities.

In Calimshan and the Shining South, Ibrandul’s worship has declinedsignificantly over the centuries among humans. Ibrandul is still worshipedwith great fervor by the once-human bands of skulks who stalk the Under-dark in the Calishite region of Faerûn and emerge only to raid the surface Asa result, the Skulking God is considered far more of an evil power in Calim-shan than elsewhere in the Realms.

In the Sword Coast North, Ibrandul’s faith is a relatively recent arrival.Here the Lord of the Dry Depths attracts worshipers of a wide variety of align-ments and races, and his priests emphasize his defender aspect more than hislove of darkness. It is likely that Shar will shift this focus in the near future.

Before Ibrandul was slam, he provided his priests with spells to modifyfire lizards into ibrandlin, the “lurkers in darkness” created in the image ofthe Stalker, which priests could train to guard Ibrandul’s temples. (Thesemonstrous modified fire lizards are detailed in the Ruins of Undermountainboxed set on a MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM sheet and summarized below.)With Shar’s favor, the ibrandlin are now beginning to breed true. Before theAvatar crisis Ibrandul tended to ignore his followers once they were rela-tively safe, leaving all his clergy members as clerics and not providingenough divine power to turn the ibrandlin into a self-propagating species. Itwas probably this inattention to his worshipers and corresponding weaken-ing in his power that led to his defeat by Shar.

Novice Ibrandulin (priests of Ibrandul) are called Children of Ibrandul,and addressed as “child” by priests. When initiated into the priesthood, theyearn the title Lurker. Senior priests (those above 5th level) are MysteriousLurkers, and the leader of a temple is an Impenetrable Lurker. Priests oftentake distinctive personal titles, and the recognition of such title by the Im-penetrable Lurker of a temple is all that is required to make them official.

Dogma: Followers of Ibrandul believe that the Underdark is every bit asvital as the surface world, and darkness is its greatest redeeming quality. In aworld without light, there is no tedious and inescapable march of day andnight to command the lives of intelligent creatures and no end to the vari-ety of shapes and textures to experience tactilely—something which wouldbe lost by merely looking upon them as surface dwellers do. Followers ofIbrandul believe that nothing is good or evil in the dark unless you considerit so, and such value judgments are frivolous.

Initiates to the Enveloping Darkness, as the faith is properly known, arecharged: “There is perfect freedom in perfect darkness: independence, indi-viduality, liberty from the judgment of others. Ibrandul protects you andguides you in the dark ways. He drives away those who would do his childrenharm and from time to time reveals great treasures to those who venture intothe depths. Remain steadfast to him, and he will stand by you.”

Day-to-Day Activities: All priests of Ibrandul proselytize among adven-turers and the poor folk of cities. Ibrandulin are also expected to buildtemple fortresses deep in the Underdark to serve as sanctuaries for those whoventure in the depths. They are to offer the protection of the Lord of the DryDepths to those who must hide underground (from justice, their enemies, aplague, severe weather, or an attack on the city) by providing such peoplewith guarded, defensible temples underground to stay in—in exchange forregular rental payments for a bed, food, a niche in the temple, and Ibrandul’sfavor.

Many of Ibrandul’s clergy members wander in the Underdark as adven-turers or aides to them. Their mission is to persuade everyone they meet toremain below the surface and acknowledge Ibrandul as their defender whilebelow ground. Ibrandulin tend to roam alone in the Underdark, celebratingthe darkness, which leads to a relatively high mortality rate among thelower-ranking priests. The smarter Ibrandulin stick with groups until theydevelop their survival skills and priestly powers a bit more. Shar tends towarn and protect higher-level followers of Ibrandul with the same subtlesigns and manifestations that Ibrandul liked to use.

Each time priests of Ibrandul gain a level of experience, they are expectedto throw a tithe of a tenth of their total wealth into a deep pit, where itshould remain unrecoverable. All priests and more casual followers shouldthrow a copper piece intp any pit they cross as a thanks for safely negotiatingit and into any nearby hole or crevice whenever they believe they have wit-nessed a sign from the Ibrandul.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: At 5th level, all priests of Ibran-dul must undergo a secret ritual involving ingesting ibrandlin blood and amagical ceremony conducted by an Impenetrable Lurker. As a result of thisceremony, known as elah’ranak (“Protective Armor of Darkness” inAlzhedo), large areas of the wrists, forearms, chest, back, and legs are cov-ered with patches of overlapping scales in a fashion reminiscent of the ibran-dlin. These scales give the (now senior) priest a base Armor Class of 5 butresult in a permanent loss of ld3 points of Charisma.

Specialty Priests (Darkwalkers)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom, Constitution 11PR IME REQ.: Wisdom, ConstitutionALIGNMENT: C NWEAPONS: A n yARMOR: All armor types up to and including chain mail; no

shields

Ibrandulin celebrate very few holy days. On cloud-covered nights whenthere is a new moon and the Land Above is pitch black, Ibrandul’s priestsemerge for a ceremony known as the Foreshadowing. Beginning at mid-night, this ritual celebrates Ibrandul’s promise to eventually envelop all theland above and below in darkness. Each Midwinter’s Eve, the faithful ofIbrandul give thanks to the Lurker in Darkness for their delivery from thehands of the dark elves. This ceremony, known as the Deliverance Unto

Darkness, typically involves the sacrifice of a monstrous spider or some othercreature or being Intimately associated with Lolth or the drow and the cast-ing of dark path spells. Long chains of Ibrandul’s worshipers then use the abil-ities granted them by the dark path spells to wander through the Underdarkwithout light sources, trusting their deity to lead them to safety.

When turning undead, clerics of Ibrandul do not wield holy symbols. In-stead, they reach down and grasp at a handful of earth or gravel and then letit trickle through their fists as if they were reminding the undead of whatshould happen when something dies.

Major Centers of Worship: Ibrandul can be worshiped anywhere it isdark and anywhere in the Underdark. Ibrandul has shaped elaborate altarsout of the natural stone in numerous large caverns throughout the Under-dark. They are recognizable as plateaus at least 20 feet across, worn glassysmooth across the top and having steps that ascend from any accessibleside. At the very center of the plateau, Ibrandul carves many runes andglyphs of varying texture and shape so that followers can kneel and caressthem while meditating.

Ibrandul’s largest and newest temple is the Deep Temple of Dark Hope,recently constructed deep beneath the streets of Waterdeep by Thalander“the Mad.” This temple serves as a stronghold and place of sanctuary for ad-venturers exploring Undermountain and the Underdark—for a steep fee.The subterranean temple can also be reached via a two-way gate from theDark Gateway (also known as the Upper Temple), a secret shrine to Ibran-dul located in the Trades Ward of the City of Splendors.

Affiliated Orders: The Shadows of the Night is a sinister organizationbased in the Calimshan’s Underdark comprising scattered bands of skulks.These skulks are somewhat more daring than their cowardly fellows and en-gage in fairly regular raids on the surface, although they still only attackwhen they have a vast superiority in numbers. It is believed the Shadows ofthe Night are led by some powerful evil creature—perhaps a renegade darkelf or illithilich.

The Knights Fallen is a band of priests, rogues, and warriors who stalk thenorthern reaches of the Underdark. They serve Ibrandul by seeking outthose who have lost their way in the darkness, typically adventurers or dar-ing merchants, and delivering, them to relative safety in exchange for a sig-nificant fee. They are believed to be based in the Deep Temple of DarkHope, but bands of this order have been encountered as far east as Anaurochand as far south as Amn.

Legends speak of an itinerant band of wanderers of various races who callthemselves the Horgardin. The group is led by a half-dark elf gray druid ofIbrandul who leads his followers along a twisting path through the Under-dark said to be created in ancient times by a huge horgar controlled by theLord of the Dry Depths.

Since Shar assumed Ibrandul’s portfolio, orders of her followers havebeen (oddly) friendly to those of Ibrandul, although they tend to behave abit condescendingly.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Ibrandul wear dark purple ceremonialrobes covered with a pattern of large, overlapping silver rings and beltedwith a black sash. The rings symbolize their interdependence (as fellow chil-dren of Ibrandul) and also the protective scales of the Lord of the DryDepths. The holy symbol of Ibrandul is usually carved into a semipreciousstone and carried on a thong or chain, or sometimes formed symbolicallyfrom a puzzle ring of four interlinked silver finger rings worn as one ring.

Adventuring Garb: In general, followers of Ibrandul have a distinctpredilection for black and dark purple clothing with silver ornamentation.One might often mistake them for rogues (which they may be anyway) be-cause they seem to dress as if to blend with darkness. When adventuring,the Skulking God’s clergy members wear reasonable armor that protects themyet enables them to move swiftly in the rough terrain of subterranean tunnels.Such armor is always tinted or dyed flat black or a deep purple so as not to re-flect any light and is usually crafted from metals or 1izard skins found in theUnderdark. Ibrandulin wield whatever weapons are appropriate and available.

MAJOR SPHERESS: All, elemental, guardian, protection, sun (only the dark-ness-creating versions of reversible spells), travelers

MINOR SPHERES: Chaos, combat, creation, divination, healing, necro-mantic

MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Animal training (ibrandlin), miningBONUS PROFS: Blind-fighting, direction sense• Although his darkwalkers are primarily humans and (in area of Calim-

shan) skulks, Ibrandul is known to also have rare dwarf, gnome, dark elf,and half-elf (of dark elf descent) specialty priests.

• Darkwalkers cast all darkness - related spells with twice the normal area ofeffect and duration; this doubling also effects their darkness-related spell-like abilities.

• All darkwalkers are granted 30-foot infravision. If they already possessinfravision due to their race, darkwalkers receive a 10-foot extension totheir range.

• Darkwalkers are able to cast darkness (as the reverse of the 1st-level priestspell light) or dark path (as the 1st-level priest spell) once per day.

• At 3rd level, darkwalkers are able to cast continual darkness (as the re-verse of the 3rd-level priest spell continual light) once per day.

• At 5th level, darkwalkers must undergo the elah’ranak ceremony like allof Ibrandul’s priests. The ceremony gives the darkwalker a base ArmorClass of 5 but results in the permanent loss of 1d3 points of Charisma.

• At 5th level, darkwalkers are able to cast blacklight or meld into stone (asthe 3rd-level priest spells) once per day.

• At 7th level, darkwalkers can cast stone shape (as the 5th-level wizardspell) or skulk (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day.

• At 10th level, darkwalkers eyes have been magically adapted so well todarkness by their years in Ibrandul’s service that they can see in absolutedarkness as if it were daylight. However, they are nearly blind within twi-light conditions (-1 penalty to saving throws and attack rolls) and to-tally blind within daylight or equivalent conditions (-4 penalty toArmor Class, saving throws, and attack rolls).

Ibrandulin Spells1st LevelDark Path (Alteration)Sphere: Sun, TravelersRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 3 hours/levelCasting Time:Area of Effect:Saving Throw:

1 roundSpecialNone

This spell enables its willing recipients to move in complete darkness with-out hindrance or risk. The night sky is not usually considered complete dark-ness, but a cave lined with luminescent lichens is so considered. This spellalso works for temporarily or permanently blind creatures who possess non-functioning sensory organs as well. Although spell recipients cannot actu-ally see in the darkness, they are completely aware of all natural and unnat-ural hazards and creatures that they would be able to perceive in fully illumi-nated conditions and can react accordingly. The spell does not allow the de-tection of invisible or magically silenced creatures or hazards. Recipients ofthis spell suffer no attack penalties for darkness or blindness while under theeffects of this spell.

Although this spell can only be cast on a single recipient, any living crea-ture in physical contact with the recipient when the spell is cast or part of achain of creatures in physical contact with each other and with the spell re-cipient receives the benefit of the dark path as well while contact is main-tained. Relying on such chains of contact is dangerous during combat situa-tions, since the benefit of the spell stops immediately for any creature wholoses direct or indirect physical contact with the spell recipient (as well asanyone further down the living chain). Reestablishing contact reestablishesthe dark path unless the spell has already ended. Creatures not in contact withthe spell recipient (or the chain to the spell recipient) when the spell is castcannot later join the chain or touch the spell recipient and gain the spell’sbenefits; such beings also effectively terminate a chain wherever they are DO-sitioned, so those linked in a chain after them lose the dark path’s benefits alsountil the chain is rearranged to exclude them.

If the spell’s recipient or anyone in contact with the recipient enters anarea of illumination (defined as coming within 15 feet of a lit torch, withinan appropriate distance to another light source such as a lamp or lantern, orentering the area of effect of a light or continual light spell), the dark path spellends immediately, and everyone currently receiving the benefits of the darkpath must make a successful saving throw vs. spell or be stunned for 1 roundand blinded for 1d6 rounds.

The material component of this spell is a small piece of luminescentlichen and the priest’s holy symbol.

3rd LevelBlacklight (Alteration)Sphere: Combat, SunRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 20-foot-radius globeSaving Throw: Neg.Upon casting this spell, the priest creates a stationary, temporary area oftotal darkness. The darkness is impenetrable to normal vision and infravi-sion, but the caster can see and move normally within the blacklit area.The caster can attack and cast spells normally within the limits of theblacklight. Each round, those within the blacklit area are allowed a savingthrow vs. spell at a -3 penalty. Those who succeed can see as the caster doesfor that round while those who fail are wrapped in total darkness. Charac-ters outside the sphere cannot see into it.

Normal and magical lights are doused by the blacklight. The casting oflight, continual light, or dispel magic to counter this spell destroys the blacklitarea.

Creatures within the blacklit area have a -4 penalty to attack rolls andsaving throws and have their Armor Classes reduced by 4. Characters withthe blind-fighting nonweapon proficiency are only penalized by -2 to theirattack rolls and saving throws and have no penalty to their Armor Classes.

The caster of a blacklight spell can end it at will, though continual con-centration is not necessary to maintain it. Note that spells that depend onvisual effects (such as illusions) do not function if the victim cannot seethem.

The material components of this spell are a piece of coal and the driedeyeball of any creature.

4th LevelSkulk ( I l lusion/Phantasm)Sphere: ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: Creature touchedSaving Throw: NoneThis spell gives willing recipients the chameleonlike ability to movequickly and quietly (+20% chance to move silently, +2 bonus to normalmovement rate) or to freeze into immobility and blend into the backgroundof their surroundings. While immobile, a recipient is 90% likely to bepassed by unnoticed. In forest and subterranean settings, spell recipientscan pass almost without trace. Anyone following the recipient of a skulkspell in these surrounding has one-fifth his or her normal chance to tracksuccessfully.

While under the effects of a skulk spell, morale checks by the recipientof a skulk are made at a -2 penalty. Saving throws vs. magical fear are madeat a -6 penalty.

There is a 1% noncumulative chance per use of this spell that the recip-ient is permanently transformed into a skulk. When this happens, the vic-tim undergoes an immediate and permanent physical metamorphosis. Anyshift in alignment or development or improvement of thieving skills as a re-sult of the transformation occurs over a period of one to two years.

The material component of this spell is a small piece of skin from a cha-meleon, a dead spider of any size, and the priest’s holy symbol.

Skulk: THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon type, usually 1d4(dagger) or 1d6 (short sword); AC 7; HD 2; MV 12; SA backstab as5th-level thief (+4 bonus to hack attack roll and triple damage whensuccessful), completely silent movement, -3 penalty to opponents’surprise rolls; SD camouflage, hard to track; SW cowardly; SZ M (5to 6 feet tall); INT average (8-10); AL CE; ML unsteady (5-7); XP175; GREYHAWK® MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Appendix.

Notes: Class and racial abilities supersede these statistics whenapplicable.

SD—90% invisibility when immobile, one-fifth normal chanceto track in forest and subterranean settings.

SW—Skulks try to run when first wounded or when the odds areless than two to one in their favor. They never engage in direct com-bat unless trapped, but rather backstab and run, to later sneak up onopponents again.

6th LevelCreate Ibrandlin (Abjuration)Sphere: GuardianRange: SpecialComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 7 hoursArea of Effect: 1 fire lizard eggSaving Throw: NoneThis spell was developed centuries ago by priests of Ibrandul to facilitate thecreation of fearsome guardians for the temple of Ibrandul located in the Un-derdark. Ibrandlin are created by magically altering fire lizard eggs to createthe trainable monsters described in a MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM sheet in-cluded in the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set. Since the Time of Troubles,ibrandlin have begun to breed true. As a result this spell is likely to lapseinto relative disuse, given the expense of the spell components.

Casting this spell is a long and arduous process. Those who cast this spellmust prepare themselves with a tenday of prayer and fasting before attempt-ing the casting. The spellcaster must then coat a fertilized, living fire lizardegg with a mixture of holy oil and diamond dust and perform a seven-hourritualistic prayer dance around the egg. Each hour of the dance, the spell-caster must make a Constitution ability check. Failure of any Constitutionability check results in the complete failure of the spell. The spell can be at-tempted once again one tenday later on the same egg with new materialcomponents. A second failure kills the unhatched fire lizard in the egg, ren-dering it useless. When create ibrandlin is successfully cast, the material com-ponents are absorbed into the egg and an untrained hatchling ibrandlinemerges from the egg one tenday later.

The material components of this spell are Ibrandulin holy oil and 3,000gp worth of diamond bust.

Ibrandlin: THAC0 11; #AT 5; Dmg ld8 (claw)/ ld8 (claw)/1d8(claw)/ld8 (claw)/2d8 (bite); AC 3; HD 10; MV 9, Cl 5; SA firebreath; SD immune to fire-based attacks, disease, poison, rot grubs,and other parasites; MR 40%, SZ G (40 feet or more long); INT semi-(4); AL LN; ML fearles, (19); XP 7000; Ruins of Undermountain.

Notes: Ibrandlin can pry open doors and carry prey or objects.They are not smart enough to wield magical items on their own, al-though they can duplicate actions they have observed. They sleep50% of the time. They respect and obey those dressed as priests ofIbrandul, and can understand brief commands, along with instinc-tively protecting their lair (usually a temple of Ibrandul)

SA—Serpentine bodies enable ibrandlin to rear up on their tailand attack with all four claws while biting or breathing fire. Theybreathe fire every fifth round in a cone 5 feet wide at the mouth, 10feet wide at the end, and 15 feet long for 2d6 points of damage, savevs. breath weapon for half. While they cannot bite while breathing, ifa “bite” attack roll succeeds in the same round that they breathe, avictim directly in front of the breath weapon takes maximum damagefrom fire (12 points) with no saving throw. With a successful attackroll, an ibrandlin can pin a victim beneath its body in lieu of threeclaw attacks, but does not automatically rest its weight upon pinnedvictims. If a victim continues to fight after being pinned (using spellswith only verbal components or at an attack and damage roll penaltyof -3), she or he then feels the ibrandlin’s weight and suffers ld4points of crushing damage per round. A single ibrandlin can pin up tofive man-size victims. To escape requires successful Strength andDexterity checks in the same round even if the ibrandlin is dead. Es-caping from beneath a held or paralyzed ibrandlin is at a -10 penaltyto the ability checks.

AC -5; MV 15; HP 224; THAC0 -2; #AT 3/1*Dmg 1d10+9 (+9 Str, +10 spec. bonus in punching, +9 chart bonus**)MR 80% SZ L (12 feet)Str 21, Dex 13, Con 25, Int 19, Wis 23, Cha 18Spells P: 15/14/13/13/12/11/9, W: 5/5/5/5/5/3/3/2/1Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, SP 6

* Includes extra unarmed specialization attack. **Using the PHB or CompleteFighter�s Handbook or Complete Priest�s Handbook unarmed combat rules. UsingPlayer�s Option�: Combat & Tactics, he is considered a grand master.

SW�When ibrandlin hurl or throw objects, they attack at -3penalty; misses land 1d10 feet from their intended target.

Loviatar, Malar, Talos, Bane (now dead), Bhaal (nowdead), Myrkul (now dead)A pair of white human hands bound at the wrists withblood-red cord or (older) a blood-stained rackAny

Ilmater (Ihl-MAY-ter) offers succor and calmingwords to those who are in pain, oppressed, or in greatneed. He is the willing sufferer, the one who takesthe place of another to heft the other�s burden, totake the other�s pain. He is the god of the oppressedand unjustly treated.

FOES:

SYMBOL:

WOR. ALIGN.:

Ilmater is quiet, kind, good-spirited, and slow toanger. He appreciates a humorous story and has a

rather rustic humor himself. When his avatar appears, he takes assaults uponhis person passively and rarely lifts a hand against another. He is not totallynonviolent, though, as many often assume by his doctrine of endurance.When facing cruelties and atrocities his rage can boil up, and then he is afigure of frighteningly righteous wrath. His appearance can frighten theyoung, but he takes great care to reassure them as he treasures children andall young creatures, taking exceptional offense at those who would abuse orharm them.

Ilmater is allied to and serves Tyr, aiding the blinded god in his traveland teaching him to live without his sight but to rely more upon his feelings.He is also on very good terms with Torm, who also serves Tyr, and the threedeities are known collectively as the Triad.

Ilmater�s symbol in the early days was the blood-stained rack, but sincethe Godswar the use of a pair white hands hound with blood-red cord hascome into almost exclusive use. This newer symbol has increased Ilmater�spopularity in the world at large.

Ilmater�s Avatar (Monk 35, Cleric 32, Paladin 20, Mage I8)Ilmater appears as a man with with broken joints who drags himself around in ob-vious pain using his smashed hands and ravaged limbs despite the agony ac-tivity causes. He is short, burly, and wears only a breechcloth. His baldinghead sports a homely, kindly face, and his hairy body is crisscrossed withscars, open cuts, burns, and other marks of torture. He can cast spells fromany priest sphere or wizard school, but rarely casts any spell that causes anyform of damage to another unless in retribution for sadistic acts performedby others. All positive forms of healing and necromantic sphere spells hecasts, are at double strength.

Special Att/Def: Ilmater does not use a weapon. He most often does noteven defend himself against attacks, simply the damage he is dealt.He regenerates 6 hit points a round, though his broken physical form neverreflects this healing. He can function perfectly well without being destroyeduntil at -213 hit points. He only strikes out in anger with spells or fists inretribution for extreme acts of cruelty and sadism or when defending an-other from attacks. He also strikes out with his fists to deflect missile attacksdirected at himself and others (with a successful attach roll per missile) andto target specific items that he deems dangerous. He is considered to be spe-cialized in martial arts, a grand master in martial arts or specialized inpunching, depending on the unarmed combat rules in use (see the monkclass in Appendix I: Priest Classes).

I lmater

(The Crying God, the Lord on the Rack,the One Who Endures, the Broken God)Intermediate Power of Bytopia, LG)PORTFOLIO: Endurance, suffering, martyrdom, perseveranceALIASES: Ayuruk (among the peoples of the Great Glacier)DOMAIN NAME: Shurrock/MartyrdomainSUPERIOR: TyrALLIES: Tyr, Torm, Ibrandul (now dead), Lathander

Other ManifestationsIlmater appears as an unseen, watchful presence accompanied by a whim-pering or howling sound. In this form he speaks, telekineses items about, andhurls spells.

Alternatively, the Crying God can choose to possess any good-alignedcreature who is being tortured without having done, anything to earn suchtreatment under the laws of the realm in which the torture is taking place.When such a manifestation occurs, the tortured being’s body glows with abright white aura, the being is healed and regenerated, all pain is banished,any restraints are broken asunder and torture devices smashed, and thebeing is set free, vigorous and alert. It Ilmater is angered enough by what has

been done (sadistically cruel torturers and accompanying murders are defi-nite triggers for this), he empowers the freed being to cast destructive spellsfor a turn or so, typically channeling the ability to cast such spells as chainlightning, flame strike, lightning bolt, meteor swarm, imprisonment, and sink.

Ilmater also acts through the appearance or presence of devas, einheriar(formed from martyrs), hollyphants, incarnates of courage, planetars, solars,and other not yet identified beings. More commonly he sends white doves,donkeys, daisies, white roses, field mice, and sparrows to show his favor andas a sign to encourage his faithful to persevere.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, monksCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, Mon: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mon: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and monks of Ilmater receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

The followers of Ilmater are often perceived as being intentional suffer-ers, but in reality they concentrate a lot of effort on providing proper treat-ment and healing to those who have been hurt. They put others ahead ofthemselves, are sharing, and emphasize the spiritual nature of life over thegross material body.

Ilmater�s priests tend to be the most sensitive and caring of humans.When new to the faith, since they see much suffering, they often weep.Over time, this constant tugging at their heartstrings wears at them, andthey then tend toward a cynical view of life in Faerûn. They are distin-guished from other cynics, however, by their inability to ignore or pass byothers in need. Even when a cause is hopeless, they must help. Ilmatari aretaught to be firm in their principles and fearless, with the result that theyearn enormous respect with the general populace, but are often slain bybrigands or those who hold different principles than they do. The church ofIlmater is different from many Faerûnian faiths in that it has many saints,among them St. Dionysius and St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred (whose sym-bol is a yellow rose).

Few priests of Ilmater are soldiers, and fewer still are merchants, but theydo outstrip all other priesthoods in the size, number, and level of treatmentin the many infirmaries and leper sanctuaries they maintain. From their in-ception into the priesthood, Ilmatari are trained in the recognition andtreatment of all known diseases, injuries, and conditions; senior priests havehad prepared detailed programmed illusions to show beings in various stages ofharm. An Ilmatari priest who has been shown these could, for instance, rec-ognize a human infested with rot grubs at a glance.

The process of joining the clergy of Ilmater is simple: A novice enjoys agentle walk and talk with a senior priest, during which they talk and explorethe novice�s views of life. They then dine and the novice is (knowingly)given a wine that puts him or her into a gentle trance where various clergyand wizards friendly to the faith can easily employ mind-scrying spells tothoroughly explore the novice�s true feelings, loyalties, and aims. If no dedi-cation to evil or precluding religious or secular loyalties are found, thenovice is accepted and adorned with the simple robes of Ilmater. (This cau-tious practice was instituted because many folk in the past have posed aswilling entrants into the Ilmatari just to learn the medicines and physicloreand then stolen away with as many medical supplies as they could.)

All the Adorned are priests, but no titles are commonly used in the clergyexcept Brother and Sister. For senior clergy, Revered is added to this, and forthe heads of temples, abbeys, and monasteries dedicated to the Crying God,Father and Mother are used. So, for example, the head of the Towers ofWillful Suffering, the abbey to Ilmater in Eshpurta, is known as ReveredMother of the House Heldatha Dhussta.

The Adorned include clerics, specialty priests, and monks. Though themonastic orders usually dwell separate from the rest of the church in monas-teries and abbeys, some monks also abide in Ilmatari temples to teach otherIlmatari about fields of knowledge they have specialized in or to providetheir special form of hand-to-hand protection to the institution to whichthey are assigned.

The hierarchy of the Adorned usually centers around the leader of largetemple, abbey, or monastery to who the Ilmatari in the region report. Il-matari are loosely ranked under this Revered Mother or Father, and abbeysand monasteries are usually tied to specific temples, often adding a secondinformal tier to the hierarchy.

Ilmater�s priests are found where they are needed, which is usually in theworst possible conditions, ministering to the needs of the oppressed, the de-ceased, and the poor. Those outside the faith often view this as a strategicpositioning of churches in areas which guarantee the persecution of Ilmatari

(such as Mulmaster and Zhentil Keep). Priests of Ilmater may also be foundamong adventuring companies, and�in addition to paladins�are often theones to go off rescuing this clan of kidnapped halflings or recovering thatpurloined family heirloom. It is not that they are foolish, but rather that theycare for all things to the exclusion of their personal risk.

Shortly after the Time of Troubles, the reputation of the organizedchurch was plagued by the actions of a neutral cult of Ilmater that believedin passing suffering around to others, especially nonbelievers. They werenoted for self-flagellation, kidnappings, and inciting riots. Ilmater was notgranting these cultists their powers or spells, and the Ilmatari church sus-pects that Cyric, Loviatar, and Beshaba was behind these deluded people. For-tunately, the cult has largely been eliminated due to a hostile response to itsactions on the part of nobles and those in authority.

Dogma: The Ilmatari are taught to help all who hurt, no matter whatthey are, and that the truly holy take on the suffering of others. Ilmater tellsthem that if they suffer in his name, he will be there to support them. Theyshould stick to their cause if it is right, whatever the pain and peril. They areto stand up to all tyrants, resisting in ways both great and small, and to allowno injustice to go by unchallenged. They believe that there is no shame in ameaningful death. Some followers of Ilmater take a negative or darkly hu-morous view of the world, and the church accepts them as well. �Today isthe first day in what�s left of your life� fits very snugly into Ilmater�s dogma,but most Ilmatari would add, �So live it well.�

Novices in the faith are charged to: �Persevere in the face of pain. Healthe sick, the wounded and the diseased. Comfort the dying, the grief-stricken, and the heartsick. Take on the burdens and the pain of others.Champion the causes of the oppressed and unjustly treated, and give shelterand kind counsel to the lonely, the lost, and the ruined. Pursue the service ofIlmater, and he will provide�leave gross riches and the acquisition of all butmedicines to others. Take up the tasks no others dare.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Ilmatari share what they have with those inneed and always take time to counsel those who are upset and give healingand tender care to the injured. They speak for the oppressed, guide the lost,feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and gather herbs and make medicinesat all times for disasters to come. When war is expected and time permits,priests of Ilmater gather in strength with litters, shovels, tents, splints, ban-dages by the cartload, and wagons of medicines and healing potions to tendthose who will soon suffer.

Priests of Ilmater see life as sacred and suffering as holy, but they do notstand in the way of others' desires or condemn them for their chosen path.For instance, Ilmatari would not stop a sorely injured warrior form rising uphalf-healed to plunge into battle again, openly seeking death while fightingthe foe. Instead, they would freely assist the warrior by healing him enoughto be mobile so that he could follow his own doom wish in the most honor-able manner available to him.

Ilmatari bury the dead, treat the diseased, and give food, drink, and fire-wood to the poor. They also tour the wealthier cities and settlements of Faerûnsoliciting moneys to support the church. Increasingly, since so many folk per-sonally received the benefit of their kindnesses during the Time of Troubles,people of all faiths give generously to the church of the Crying God. As themerchant Ashaerond of Westgate put it: �If I pay for one extra potion today, itmay be the last one tomorrow�but the one needed then to heal me.�

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: There are no calendar-relatedspecial holy days or any other festivals observed by the llmatari. Instead, thedaily rituals of prayer to Ilmater at least six times per day govern each andevery day of service.

A special Plea must be made to Ilmater to receive divine dispensation fora Rest, which is a tenday vacation from serving Ilmater's dictates. Usually Il-matari request this when they are emotionally exhausted, but some adven-turer-priests use Rests to perform things Ilmater would otherwise frownupon. This custom is an established tradition that some leaders of the faithrely upon, sending their best fighting clergy out to do things that the churchcannot otherwise accomplish (covertly removing a tyrant rather than con-fronting him openly, for example).

The most important ritual of the church of Ilmater is the Turning: It isthe duty of every priest of Ilmater to try to get dying persons to turn to Il-mater for comfort, receiving the blessing of the Broken God before they ex-pire. As the veneration of Ilmater grows, even in death, his healing powerbecomes greater.

Major Centers of Worship: The largest center of Ilmatari worship isthe House of the Broken God in Keltar in Calimshan. The House of theBroken God is a huge monastery in the center of the town that is connected,via a series of walled gardens, to a temple farm on a hill northwest of Keltar,a walled leper house beyond that, and a sanitarium beyond that. Here

Specialty Priests (Painbearers)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:

Constitution 14, Wisdom 12Constitution, WisdomLGAll bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons and thescourgeNoneARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERESS: All, charm, creation, guardian, healing, law, necroman-tic, protection, travelersCombat, elemental, summoning, sun, wards, weatherSame as clericsHealing

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS: Endurance, herbalism

Revered Father of the House Melder Rythtin of the Healing Hand, who isfamous for his diagnoses and miraculous treatments of the afflicted, presidesover the largest hospital and facility for brewing, concocting, and com-pounding medicines in Faerûn. Those unfriendly to Calimshan have com-mented that such a facility is located where it is because the cruelty of theCalishites makes it most needed in their realm�but they are too greedy anddisgusted by the sick, the malformed, and the injured to allow such a placein their proud capital city.

Affiliated Orders: Ilmater�s church has several affiliated knightly ordersof paladins and warriors, including the Companions of the Noble Heart, theHoly Warriors of Suffering, the Order of the Golden Cup, and the Order ofthe Lambent Rose. Monastic orders are also numerous, and include the Dis-ciples of St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred, whose most famous facility, theMonastery of the Yellow Rose, is located in Damara, high up in the Earth-spurs near the Glacier of the White Worm. (Monks of this monastery spe-cialize in genealogical studies.) Other Ilmatari monastic orders include theFollowers of the Unhindered Path, the Disciples of St. Morgan the Taciturn,and the Sisters of St. Jasper of the Rocks. Most Ilmatari monasteries tradi-tionally are named after flowers which symbolize something of significanceto the order, though this is not mandated.

Priestly Vestments: For ceremonial functions, Ilmatari wear a solid graytunic, tabard, and trousers, or gray robes. They wear skullcaps in gray (mostclergy members) or red (senior priests). Novices who have not yet beenadorned wear no skullcaps. The symbol of Ilmater is worn as a pin over theheart or on a chain around the neck and serves as a holy symbol. Some ofthe older members of the faith have a gray teardrop tattooed to one side oftheir right or left eye.

Adventuring Garb: In the field or on quests, Ilmatari priests dress ap-propriately for the mission and the weather, but usually wear gray tabardsdecorated with Ilmater�s symbol stitched on the chest near the left shoulderover any other clothing or armor they wear. They are never without theirholy symbols and a satchel of medicines, bandages, salves, splints, and slings.

� Painbearers gain a +4 bonus to saving throws that involve endurance orresisting pain and suffering. They gain a +2 bonus on all ability checksinvolving Constitution in such situations (such as swimming anddrowning).

� Painbearers can survive without food and water for a number of tendaysequal to their level. Their attack and damage rolls are reduced by a -1penalty for every three tendays they go without food or water, but theydo not perish. Such painbearers are wracked by hunger pangs, but that isto be expected in this faith.

� A painbearer can remove fear (similar to the 1st-level priest spell) fromothers and can permanently dispel the effect of baneful emotion-basedspells which cause pain, suffering, or hopelessness by touch (such as thepain touch of pains of Loviatar). The painbearer can perform this task onup to two other people in addition to himself or herself per day.

� At 3rd level, painbearers are able to draw upon holy might (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once a day without needing any rest afterward.

� At 5th level, painbearers are able to cast favor of Ilmater (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell) once a day.

� At 7th level, painbearers are able to cast endurance of Ilmater (as the 4th-level priest spell) once a day.

� Painbearers are able to brew healing-type potions beginning at 7th levelrather than 9th level. DMs must adjudicate what types of healing potionsthey may manufacture at what levels, but at 7th level they may make po-tions of healing.

� At 10th level, painbearers are able to commune with Ilmater once pertenday (as the 5th-level priest spell).

� At 12th level, painbearers suffering under extreme punishment, torture,or suffering, may be possessed by a beneficial servant of Ilmater. This is at

their request. During such possession, the servant takes all the pain in-flicted, but no physical damage. The servant cannot move the body andremains only until the suffering has passed. A dispel magic spell drives outthe servant.

Ilmatari Spells3rd LevelFavor of Ilmater (Abjuration, Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Necromantic, ProtectionRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 turn/level of the caster, or permanentCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: One creature, or the caster and one creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell has two possible forms. In the first form, favor of Ilmater banishespain and nausea so that the spell recipient, who may be the caster, cannot bestunned or debilitated by amputations, torture, and severe injuries. Thoseinjuries still deal damage, and death may occur from loss of blood, strangula-tion, and the like, but dignity and composure can be maintained, shockavoided, and clear, calm thought retained in the face of such horrid occur-rences. The spell allows its recipient to die nobly, to stay conscious and calmto pass on vital information, to remain alert and aware as an observer even ifdying, and so on. The spell banishes feeblemindedness, shock, delirium, andcharm effects, frees the recipient being from hypnotic effects, maze spells,and confusion, and revives him or her from dazed conditions and faints. Painand physical symptoms will return if their causes are still present when thespell expires, but the helpful effects of favor of Ilmater on the recipient�s mind

In the second form of favor of Ilmater, the caster may choose to take onall of the hit point damage suffered by another creature, instantly transfer-ring their own current hit points to the injured being by means of thespell. This switch is permanent until the caster uses normal methods toheal the damage. Beings who receive more hit points than they normally

fer of hit points brings the priest to death and does not bring the injured

a system shock roll. Failing this roll brings death. Individuals who succeedat the roll are placed in a coma; they are not dead but are unable to healwithout magical aid.

Note that diseases, parasitic infestations, drunkenness, and other condi-tions cannot be taken on by the caster by means of the second use of a favorof Ilmater spell; only purely physical damage can be transferred. Ilmater re-gards the taking on of the pain of others in this way to be a very holy act, andencourages his clergy to make such use of this spell whenever a real (not friv-olous) need is present.

are permanent�for instance, a broken charm is gone forever.

possess in this trade lose the excess. This transfer may be done from a dis-tance so long as the spell range is not exceeded, and neither the priest northe recipient being need make system shock survival rolls unless the trans-

being up to above zero hit points. In this case, both individuals must make

4th LevelEndurance of Ilmater (Abjuration, Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Necromantic, ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round+ 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell doubles the hit points of the spell recipient for the spell duration.Any damage suffered is taken first from these phantom hit points until theyare all exhausted; damage is only then taken from the real hit points of theaffected being. Endurance of Ilmater makes all Strength and Constitutionability checks of the spell recipient automatically succeed while the en-durance of Ilmater is in effect. The spell also protects the vitality of the spellrecipient so that all system shock rolls and checks of any sort against con-tracting diseases automatically succeed, and all other saving throws receive a+2 bonus. In addition, no being protected by endurance of Ilmater can beknocked over, trampled, ridden down, or overthrown; all protected beingscan stand firm against all charges.

5th Level

Blast of Pain (Alteration, Evocation, Necromancy)Sphere:Range:

Combat, Necromantic10 yards/level

Components: V, S Istishia always sends a representative to accept offerings (given to his de-Duration: 4 rounds vout worshipers) of water-hued fine fabrics that ripple like waves, gemstonesCasting Time: 5 in shades from clear to deepest emerald or sapphire, fine inks or dyes, or

books or papers on which are written unsolved or unsolvable riddles ormathematical problems. These representatives can be anything from his

Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a beam of smoky gray radiance that streaks unerringly fromthe priest to a single chosen target who must be within view and range of thecaster as casting begins. The target creature must make a saving throw vs.spell at a -5 penalty. If the saving throw is successful, the target is over-whelmed by pain for one round (slowing its movement by half, adding 3 toall casting times, and forcing it to make all attack rolls at a -2 penalty) andsuffers 1d4+ 1 points of damage to its nervous system; it is then free of thespell.

If the saving throw is failed, the target creature suffers 1 point of damageper level of the caster and is stunned and writhing helplessly in pain for theremainder of the current round and the following round. While in suchpain, no spellcasting or coherent thought is possible for the target creature.It drops or flings away all held items and moves at random. It can make nodeliberate attacks, and its awareness of its surroundings is blotted out.

At the beginning of the second round after it was affected, the targetbeing is allowed another saving throw vs. spell, this time at a -4 penalty. Ifthe target succeeds at the saving throw, it suffers 1d4+ 1 points of damage butis then free of the spell. If it fails, another 1 point of damage per level of thecaster is inflicted, and the victim continues to be stunned and to writhehelplessly.

At the beginning of the third round after it was affected, the target is al-lowed a third saving throw vs. spell at a -3 penalty. If the saving throw issuccessful, the victim suffers 1d4+ 1 points of damage and is then freed fromthe spell. If the saving throw is failed, another 1 point of damage per level ofthe caster is inflicted, and the victim continues to be stunned and to writhehelplessly until the end of the round, when the spell ends.

Target beings above 10th level or possessing more than 10 Hit Dice gaina +1 bonus on all saving throws related to a blast of pain per level or Hit Dieabove 10. Creatures who have no nervous systems or are immune to pain areimmune to this spell.

Istishia(The Water Lord, God-King of the Water Elementals)Greater Power of the Elemental Plane of Water, NPORTFOLIO: Elemental water, water elementalists, purification

through cleansing, wetnessALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Elemental Plane of Water/Sea of TimelessnessSUPERIOR:ALLIES:

NoneDeep Sashelas, Trishina, Eadro, Persana, Shekinester,Surminare, Valkur the Mighty, Water Lion

FOES:SYMBOL:

KossuthA cresting wave or a drop of water

WOR. ALIGNMENT: Any

difficult to pin down. He provides the atmosphere in which life is born, but

Faerûn has many powers whose portfolios deal withwater. Umberlee governs the oceans and oceanstorms, Valkur strives to protect those who travel thewaves, and Eldath has dominion over pools, springs,and waterfalls. Istishia (Is-TISH-ee-ah) is more ab-stract than all these deities. He represents water, butnot any specific formation or body of water. He is amutable yet dynamic deity who is dispassionate and

not life itself. He furnishes a crucial resource, but apparently cares not how itis used. He is depicted as anything from an immense water elemental to adrop of rain to a water weird to a wave on the ocean. Istishia represents eter-nal transmutation that holds a fixed, essential nature at its core. He holds inhis nature change accomplished over time, as water wears away stone, orsudden leaps from one state to another, as water changes to steam whenheated. He is the guardian of all hidden treasures under water.

Like all the elemental lords, Istishia is relatively unfeeling toward his fol-lowers on Abeir-Toril. His reactions are utterly unpredictable and thus, in anodd way, predictable in their unpredictability. The reasoning behind Is-tishia�s actions is incomprehensible to most of Faerûn�s inhabitants, includ-ing his worshipers. The alien and uncaring stance of Istishia and the otherelemental lords has led to the mistaken impression in the Realms that theyare only lesser powers and their followers merely oddball cultists. During theTime of Troubles, Istishia was not spotted in the Realms.

to accomplish a previously unattainable goal.The worshipers he favors and those he ignores seem chosen on a whim.

priests to fish to water elementals. His gifts to his followers are most oftenthe ability to travel easily through water, the knowledge to find somethinghidden in water, or a change in themselves (often a polymorph spell thatchanges a being�s corporeal form, but sometimes a sudden insight into aproblem) that allows them

Istishia's Avatar

Stars. Istishia appears as a 20- to 30-foot-thick column of water that moveseffortlessly over or through whatever obstacles are placed in his path. He hasalso been known to split his water form up into two or more parts to confuse

(30- HD Water Elemental, Cleric 30, Mage 30)

Istishia has been seen only three times in written record in avatar form onAbeir-Toril, one of which was at the time of the creation of the Sea of Fallen

his enemies. His movements sound like the surf pounding on the shore, andhis voice is the sound of rushing water, a babbling brook, and a gentle rainall at once. He casts spells from the elemental water, healing, and weatherspheres and the elemental water school.

AC -4; MV 12; HP 296; THAC0 -9; #AT 2Dmg 15d6MR 50%; SZ G (40 to 60 feet)STR 20, DEX 24, CON 21, INT 19, WIS 19, CHA 13Spells P: 12/11/11/10/9/9/8, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: So long as there is water present somewhere for him toissue forth from when he first appears, Istishia is considered a native of thePrime Material Plane in any crystal sphere he appears in. This makes him im-mune to the adverse effects of such spells as anti-magic shell, protection fromevil/good, and holy word on creatures from other planes. He also has total im-munity to any spell that adversely effects water, such as transmute water to dust.

Istishia can easily swamp or overturn boats and ships of any size in oneround and stop or slow any water vessel in the same amount of time. Istishiamay use the same abilities as any elemental water kin. Whenever Istishiasuccessfully attacks in combat with his gigantic wave fists, the target crea-ture must make a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon at a -2 penaltyor die of drowning. Those who do not drown suffer 15d6 points of damageper successful attack. Magical items that grant a target a means to breatheunderwater function normally and prevent this effect, but Istishia can in-stantly destroy any one such item by forfeiting one of his normal attacks.Items targeted for destruction do not gain a saving throw. Istishia cannot de-stroy artifacts in this manner.

Istishia may leave a field of battle or the Prime Material Plane at any timeby spending two rounds merging with a large body of water.

Other ManifestationsIstishia has manifested many more times than he has sent an avatar to theRealms. Any significant source of water is viewed as a manifestation of theWater Lord by his faithful. Rivers, lakes, and streams are all viewed as sacred,as are the oceans and seas, fountains, rain, and even puddles. Istishia some-times sends servant creatures from the Elemental Plane of Water such aswater elementals, nereids, marids, and tritons to do his bidding or aid fol-lowers. He also sends water creatures such as fish, dolphins, whales, octo-puses, or even the leviathan. The discovery of water when drilling for a wellor when in a barren land is viewed as a sign of Istishia�s favor.

The ChurchCLERGY: Specialty priests, crusaders, mystics, shamansCLERGY�S ALIGN.: NG, CG, N, CN, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mys: No, Sha: Yes, if goodCMND. UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mys: No, Sha: Yes, if neutral or evilAll specialty priests, crusaders, mystics, and shamans of Istishia receive reli-gion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Istishian priests arestrongly encouraged to learn seamanship or acquire weather sense in addi-tion to their required proficiencies. All shamans of Istishia receive elemen-tal water as one of their major spheres in addition to their normal spheres ofmagic. Special candles made by Istishian mystics burn even under water andare not extinguished by being exposed to liquids, though they may still besnuffed out with fingers or a snuffer.

tishia is often served by shamans.

cent Storm, the Church of the Sacred Sea, the Church of Watery Paths, andthe Church of the Eternal Transformation. These sects work together witheach other, though disagreements have been known to occur. In general, theIstishian faith is constantly evolving and new sects are diverted from or ab-sorbed by old ones as the decades pass. The church holds a unified rankingsystem throughout the faith, and the sects many dictate how the priests of aparticular house of worship view and practice their religion.

Before the Time of Troubles, all of the elemental cults had clerics in theirranks. Now, only specialty priests remain. Why Istishia decided to converthis clerics to specialty priests over the years is unknown, though the churchof Istishia teaches that the change was made to allow specialty priests tofocus on their lord�s element to the exclusion of other tasks. Since theGodswar, the Istishian church has added a small order of mystics and anorder of crusaders to the church to fill niches in the priesthood that themore generalized clerics used to fill. In primitive or nomadic societies, Is-

The Water Lord's faith has four major sects: the Church of the Magnifi-

The Last March of the Giants

East of the Great Rift in the Eastern Shaar once stood a land of titans. This

empire rose at the dawn of time in Faerûn, and its lords thought to chal-

lenge the gods in their arrogance. In punishment, the powers cursed the

reigning monarch of the land with fascination and his brethren with devotion.

The powers then dropped a star onto the land. The impact of the fallen star cre-

ated a huge valley later known as the Sea of Fallen Stars. Slowly picking up speed,

the ball rolled through the titan nation and onward to the south.

Unable to contain his curiosity, the titan king ran off after the bouncing

sphere and his devoted followers dutifully followed his tracks. The meteorite

rolled on and on until it reached the Great Sea and vanished into the depths.

The monarch dove into the sea, and, lemminglike, the entire titan race dove inafter him, never to be seen again.

Ashamed at the destruction they had wrought, the powers vowed to keep

both curiosity and loyalty firmly in check to avoid such disasters in the future.

They have done so to this day, preventing both new ideas from being pursued

with any speed and the intelligent races of Toril from ever fully cooperating.

functional one. The actual control of the church is in the hands of a councilof the seven regional heads of the faith known as the Primatus.

Novice Istishians priests are called Searchers. After completing a series ofat three one-on-one courses of learning (a sort of apprenticeship in thefaith) with Istishian senior priests, novice Istishians become full priests. Inascending order of rank, the titles in general use by the priesthood are: Es-sential Servant (full priest), Spring of the God, Tidal Messenger, Cephalian,Full Flood (senior priest), Monsoon, Typhonic Oracle (head of a temple orlarge shrine), Grand Oracle (senior or elder head of a temple), Stratus Pri-mae (leader of a region�s temples and shrines) and Delphine Regent (hered-

The Church of the Magnificent Storm believes in the cleansing power ofIstishia. In its eyes, Istishia washes away the impurities of both the land andsea and purifies the air. �Stormers,� as they are known, always try to be pre-sent during thunderstorms and other severe weather.

The Church of the Sacred Sea believes that large expanses of water rep-resent the body of Istishia. Its members pray for calm seas and to protectboth ships and ports from the Water Lord�s power, but they also call uponthe oceans to deliver Istishia�s wrath against those who oppose the church.Many sages think that the difficulties that Thay, whose zulkirs have oftencourted the church of Kossuth, has had with its navy at various times are notthe result of interference by Umberlee or even powerful wizardly rivals, butrather the work of this sect of the Istishian church.

The Church of Watery Paths believes that the rivers and streams of Torilrepresent the far reach of Istishia�s power. Its members view rivers andstreams as the veins and capillaries of Istishia and point out that no place onToril is not shaped in some way by water, even if it is shaped by the absenceof water.

Finally, the Church of the Eternal Transformation believes that just aswater moves from one state to another yet remains eternally present, so lifemoves from one state to another yet continues. Life exists on terrestrial bod-ies like Abeir-Toril on the Prime Material Plane and across the many planesof existence, and when life ends on one plane it is merely transformed to aform more suitable for its existence on another. All of the universe is there-fore symbolized in the water cycle.

Priests of Istishia tend to establish shrines on the shores of bodies ofwater. Large temples exist primarily in port towns and cities. Other Istishianhouses of worship are entirely under water and so inaccessible to most sur-face dwellers and uncommented on in their history or lore, though such Is-tishian holy sites have figured prominently in the oral and written historiesof the aquatic races. The typical Istishian temple is of quarried sandstone ormarble in clean, elegant lines and usually sits out on a pier or next to thewater or incorporates a great many streams, ornamental pools, and fountainsso as to make water a vital part of its landscaping.

Most Istishian priests minister to the needs of the faithful in one re-gion or are attached to a particular shrine, temple, or holy site. However,the church believes that those who remain in one location and are im-mersed in the same company for too long become stagnant, so all Is-tishian priests move on to new postings on a rotating basis (so that allpriests are not traveling to or learning new positions at the same time). Ingeneral, a priest serves in one locale for five years and rotates to a newposting at the anniversary of the closest major holiday (Midwinter,Greengrass, Midsummer, Higharvestide, or the Feast of the Moon) to thedate at which she or he became a full priest. Postings may be extended bypetition from a priest or his or her congregation for year-long periodsuntil 10 years of service at one locale is reached. At that point, a priestmust move to a new post. Postings are overseen by the prestigious ElderOversight Committee, and most of the church politics in the Istishianfaith surround the actions of the Oversight Committee or attempts to in-fluence its future actions. Needless to say, the life-long appointments tothe committee are fiercely fought over�when such positions open up dueto death or retirement.

The head of the Istishian faith�the Delphine Regent�is a hereditaryposition passed down to the firstborn (of either gender) of the line of GrandOracle Seldeetha Darinaalis, the first high priestess of the faith (and a half-elf of aquatic descent). Currently, the Delphine Regent is Aquaril Sethani-lar, a 12-year-old male aquatic elf who lives in a hidden court city some-where in the Trackless Sea. However, the position is more a titular than a

itary leader of the faith). A priest who has slain or soundly defeated anenemy of the church (usually a high-ranking priest of Kossuth or a fire-basedcreature of power) may add the honorific �True� to the beginning of his orher title. Specialty priests of Istishia are known as waterwalkers.

Dogma: At its heart, the Istishian faith believes that everything is inter-connected and cyclical. Every one of the elements has its place, but watertriumphs over all of them in the end, because though it may be transformedby its environment, it retains its essential nature and in the end in turntransforms the environment it is in. The Istishian faith teaches that: �Earthdissolves through water, fire is extinguished even by steam, and air becomesclouds and then rain, completing the eternal cycle.� Istishia believes himselfto be the great equalizer and leveler of the elements.

All sects of the Istishian faith tend to avoid personal combat and directconfrontation in their dealings with unbelievers. They believe that if al-lowed to go where they will, the essential truths embodied by the WaterLord eventually convince all as to his power. That is not to say that the faithignores events going on around them, but rather that they work quietlyalong less-obvious paths to accomplish their goals. Members of the faith areto follow the path of least resistance to accomplish their goals, just like watertakes the easiest course to the sea.

Novices in the Istishian faith are charged as follows: �The eternal Istishiaacknowledges change but holds to his essential nature. Do not try to be whatyou are not; rather, excel at what you are and carry this message of personalexcellence to the world. Be flexible but now unreasonable. As the rains flowdown to the ocean in the folds of earth and not up mountains, so do thetruths of Istishia spread throughout the land through their natural routes,not through rank force. The mysteries of life are to be enjoyed and puzzled,over, but realize that some answers do not come in this form or this world,but rather in the next. Realize that the cycles of life are mirrored by the cy-cles of fate; be prepared to pay the price or reap the reward for the actions ofyour past or your future.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Many visitors to a temple wonder why priests ofIstishia would teach novices to throw pottery. Such a skill is useful bothpractically as a source of income for the church and as a teaching tool in thefaith. Using water, Istishian priests mold clay to a desired form, dry the newpots in the air, finish them with fire, and (often) use them to carry water orother liquids. The interactions of the elements are demonstrated in makingpottery, as is the mutability of water and its final triumph.

Keeping waterways pure and clean is one major goal of the church, andthis responsible long-term goal has made the Istishians one of the more eas-ily accepted elemental �cults� to visit a town. (Wantonly polluting rivers,streams, seas, and oceans is considered an insult to Istishia, as well as likelyoffending a number of other nature and water deities.) Other ongoing goalsof the church are better communication among the aquatic races and be-tween the aquatic races and surface dwellers. Many Istishian priests dream of

a day when all water dwellers can be united in their goals and efforts under-neath the benevolent guidance of the church. That this goal is utterly un-neath the benevolent guidance of the church. That this goal is utterly un-achievable and presupposes the extinction of numerous major faiths seemsnot to sway them from clinging to it nonetheless-nor does it mean thatthey hold any malice toward other primarily aquatic faiths.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Each morning for a follower ofthe Water Lord begins with a quiet prayer said in Istishia’s name over adrink of water, and each night ends the same way. Spring tide and near tidedrink of water, and each night ends the same way. Spring tide and near tidearc celebrated with festivals by the church. During these festivals newmembers of the faith are dedicated to Istishia by being boisterously tossedinto the sea or a lake or by diving into fountains or pools. Surface-dwellingcommunities of the faithful are often visited by water-dwelling emissariesfrom Istishia’s aquatic churches during these fêtes, and underwaterchurches in turn host surface-dwellers as guests through magical accommo-dations.

Waveriding is the ritual that Istishian specialty priests celebrate uponreaching a level of skill great enough to summon a water elemental fromthe Elemental Plane of Water. The ceremony is preceded by an hour-longresponsive reading and chant, after which the elemental is summoned. Theelemental then carries the celebrant on a lone ride on the waves of a largebody of water. When it returns with the priest celebrating the ritual, the el-emental is tossed garlands of flowers, gifted with drafts of fine wine, andgiven beautiful crafted pieces of jewelry, pottery, or sculpture to carry backto Istishia’s realm as it leaves.

Major Centers of Worship: Any large coastal city is certain to have atemple to the Water Lord among its many buildings. Such temples are fre-quently as close to the docks is possible. Luskan, Waterdeep, Caer Callidyrr,Teshburl, and Calimport all have large temples dedicated to Istishia. Withinthe Inner Sea, the cities of Suzail, Starmantle, Alaghôn, Neldorild, Span-deliyon, Lyrabar, Procampur, and Selgaunt also boast temples to the WaterLord. The most holy site of the faith is the underwater fortress-temple inwhich the Delphine Regent lives in secrecy. It is sometimes referred to as theCastle of the Dancing Dolphin in reference to the dolphins featured in thecoat-of-arms of the Delphine Regent, but its true name is unknown to thosewho walk above the waves. It is reputed to have fierce aquatic guardiansboth of the monstrous and the organized, intelligent variety.

Affiliated Orders: The orders of Istishian crusaders are known as theCavaliers of the Seven Seas, whose members are natural water-breathers,and the Cavaliers of the Ever-Changing Truth, whose members are naturalair-breathers. Istishian crusaders guard holy sites, escort emissaries of thefaith, and pursue the ongoing feud against the church of Kossuth on a per-sonal level. Mystics of the faith belong to the Order of Cryptic Transforma-tional Purity. The symbol of this order is a human shapechanging into a fish.Because this symbol looks somewhat like a merman and the name of theorder itself is so lofty, mystics of this order are often referred to colloquially as“fishtishians” or “the Water Lord’s fishmen”—much to their chagrin.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Istishia dress in blue-and-green robeswith coral decorations for ceremonial occasions. Exact decorations andgarment construction are not mandated by the faith, but shaded or rippleddyeing, graceful embroidery or beadwork, or layered or dagged construc-tion are often employed to convey water theme. The wave of Istishia isusually carved into a gemstone is jade, emerald, malachite, aquamarine, ora ring. Often the gemstone is jade. emerald, malachite, aquamarine, orwater opal.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring priest are free to wear whateverclothes they deem appropriate, though they are fond of wearing items inwhite, blue, green, and blue-purple hues. The use of armor heavier thanchain mail frowned upon by the church and forbidden to waterwalkers.

Specialty Priests (Waterwalkers)REQUIREMENTS:WEAPONS:

ALIGNMENT:ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERES:

Strength 12, Wisdom 12All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons plus nets,harpoons, and tridentsCG, CN, NAll armor types up to and including chain mail andshieldAll, animal creation, elemental water, healing, protec-tion, weatherCombat, elemental air, elemental earth, necromantic,numbers, timeSame as clerics, except forbidden from using magicalitems with offensive fire-based effects (potion of firebreath, oil of fiery burning, wand of fire, etc.Swimming

MINOR SPHERES:

REQ. PROFS.

BONUS PROFS. Modern languages (pick one from: sea elvish, koalinth,kuo-toan, locathah, nereid, nixie, merman, morkoth,sahuagin, sirine, triton), navigation, pottery

• Aquatic elves, half-elves of aquatic elf descent, sirines, mermen, tritons,locathah, reef giants, and selkies may be waterwalkers, although elf soci-ety looks with disdain upon such a career for an elf or a half-elf.

• Waterwalkers may cast wizard spells from the elemental water school inaddition to priest spells. These spells are cast as if the waterwalker werea mage of the same level. For example, a 3rd-level waterwalker castswizard spells as a 3rd-level mage. Waterwalkers pray for their wizardspells instead of studying to memorize them, and chosen wizard spellsreplace priest spells potentially available for use that day. (In otherwords, the wizard spell occupies a priest spell slot.) Waterwalkers gainaccess to 8th-level wizard spells at 16th level and 9th-level wizardspells at 18th level. A waterwalker must have a Wisdom of 18 or higherand an Intelligence of 16 to gain access to the 8th-level spells, and aWisdom of 18 or higher and an Intelligence of 18 to gain access to the9th-level spells. If a waterwalker is able to gain high-level wizard spells,every 8th-level spell prayed for occupies a 7th-level priest spell slot andevery 9th-level spell prayed for occupies 7th level priest spell slot.Waterwalkers are always able to read elemental water spells on scrollsor m wizard spellbooks as if they knew read magic (but studying spellsfrom a spellbook is useless to them). No more than three-quarters of awaterwalker’s total number of spells available (round down) can betaken as wizard spells.

• All waterwalkers gain a +2 bonus to saving throws vs. the harmful ef-fects of water- and cold-related spells or vaporous or acidlike breathweapons.

• While in the water, waterwalkers gain the effects of a ring of free move-ment. Their armor does not encumber them or drag them down in thewater.

• At 3rd level, waterwalkers gain the abilities to breathe normally underwater (as the 3rd-level priest spell water breathing) and to walk on waterat will (similar to the 3rd-level priest spell water walk).

• At 5th level, waterwalkers can summon one 8-HD water elementalonce a day. This elemental remains under the control of the water-walker for one hour and cannot be taken control of by another creature.If the summoner is killed or struck unconscious, the summoned elemen-tal goes on a rampage, attacking everyone in sight except its summoneruntil its one-hour time limit upon the Prime Material has elapsed. It isimportant to note that the elemental summoned is not a servant of thewaterwalker, but rather is looked upon as an agent of Istishia that is tobe respected. The ability to summon an elemental is granted once eachday when waterwalkers receive their normal complement of spells.

• At 5th level, waterwalkers gain the ability to cast Melf’s acid arrow (asthe 2nd-level wizard spell) or watery double (as the 3rd-level wizardspell) once per day.

• At 7th level, waterwalkers gain the ability to cast ice storm or wall of ice(as the 4th-level wizard spells) once per day.

• At 9th level, waterwalkers gain the ability to cast Otiluke’s freezingsphere (as the 6th-level wizard spell) or acid storm (as the 7th-level wiz-ard spell) once per day.

• At 9th level, waterwalkers can summon one 12-HD water elementalonce a tenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD water elemental.

• At 13th level, waterwalkers can summon one 16-HD water elementalonce a tenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD water elemental.

• At 15th level, waterwalkers can move through the Elemental Plane ofWater without need for food, water, or air.

• Waterwalkers who work together can summon an elemental of greaterHit Dice than they would otherwise be able to alone. For example, a5th- and 9th-level priest could summon a 16-HD elemental. As long asboth summoners remain alive, the elemental remains under their con-trol for one full hour. If one of the summoners is killed or struck uncon-scious, the summoned elemental goes on a rampage, attacking everyonein sight until its one-hour time limit upon the Prime Material haselapsed. It then returns to the Elemental Plane of Water. The partici-pants in such a combined summoning attempt must abide by time re-strictions for further elemental summoning apportioned by their levels.In the above case, the 5th-level priest would have summoned his 8-HDelemental for the day and the 9th-level priest would have summonedher 12-HD elemental for the tenday.

MAGICAL ITEMS:

Istishian Spells

1st LevelPrecipitation (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 roundCasting Time: 4Area of Effect: 30-foot-diameter cylinder up to 60 feet highSaving Throw: NoneThis spell precipitates a light rain out of the air, drizzling on everything inthe area of effect. Small flames (candles) are extinguished. Small fires(torches and campfires) gutter and smoke for a round after the drizzlingstops. Bonfires and most magical fires are unaffected. Large magical fire ef-fects (fireball, wall of fire, flamestrike) cast into the area during the rain arereduced in the damage they inflict by 2 points per die and create a warmfog that obscures vision in an area 60 feet in diameter. This lasts 1d4+1rounds, half that in a breeze, and but one round in a strong wind.

The precipitation spell has doubled effect in humid climates, causes onlyslight dampness in arid climates, produces light sleet at temperatures nearfreezing, and creates snow if the temperature is below freezing.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

3rd LcvelCloudburst (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 roundCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 30-foot-diameter cylinder up to 60 feet highSaving Throw: NoneThis spell precipitates a rush of water out of the air, instantly drenchingeverything in the area of effect. Normal fires are extinguished. Permanentmagical fires go out, but relight in 1d2 rounds. (Weapons relight in oneround.) Fire-based spells of 1st or2nd level are negated immediately.

Fire-based spells of 3rd level or higher are also negated, but create asteam cloud with a 120-foot diameter. Those within the steam cloud arescalded for 1d3 points of damage per round. Cold-based creatures takedouble this damage. The steam cloud lasts 1d4+1 rounds, half that in abreeze, and but one round in a strong wind.

The cloudburst spell has doubled effect in humid climates, causes aheavy dampness in arid climates, produces slush and sleet at temperaturesnear freezing, and creates up to 10 inches of snow if the temperature isbelow freezing.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

Rites of Istishia (Conjuration/Summoning, Divination)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 10 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 3 roundsArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell must be performed on the shore of a large body of water. When-ever Istishian priests disagree, a decision may be reached by the rites of Is-tishia. Each dissenting priest must first find a third party to argue his or hercase to a large body of water. The priests then cast a combine spell followedby the rites of Istishia. The rites of Istishia summons a number of lesser waterelementals equal to the number of clerics involved in the dispute to act asjudges. At the end of the debate, the priests then step out onto the water’ssurface. The one who is found to be in favor with Istishia (in other words,whomever the DM feels was argued for more eloquently) is held upon thewater’s surface by one of the elementals. The others are dragged to the bot-tom of the body of water by the remaining elementals and then released.The elementals take no other action—they cannot be coerced into attack-ing or defending the priests or serving them in any other way.

The material components for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol and apinch of ground sea shell for each priest involved in the dispute.

4th LevelWaterwall (Evocation)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 30 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 10 square feet/levelSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell causes a wall of blue-green water 10 square feet in size for everylevel of the spellcaster to bubble forth from the targeted area, rising throughcracks in the floor, falling from the sky, or simply springing forth from theempty air. The waterwall is 20 feet high.

Creatures smaller than the height of the wall find themselves paralyzed ifthey attempt to move through the wall. They are unable continue throughthe wall or retreat back out of the wall. Creatures larger than the height ofthe wall have their movement rates reduced to one-quarter of normal. Crea-tures who attempt to move through the wall receive no saving throwsagainst the waterwall’s paralyzing or slowing effects.

If waterwall is cast so as to initially incorporate a specific creature, the tar-get is entitled to a saving throw vs. spell with a +4 bonus. A successful sav-ing throw indicates that the target leaped from the area of effect before thewall fully came into being.

Creatures trying to fire missile weapons through the wall find their effortswasted. All of their shots miss targets on the other side of the waterwall(though they may hit trapped creatures). The same is true for spells thathave to travel through the waterwall to reach specific targets (including fire-ball, burning hands, meteor swarm, magic missile, Melf’s acid arrow, and otherspells which rely on line-of-sight), though area-of-effect spells that do notrely on traveling through intervening space to their target function normallythrough the waterwall. Cone of cold, Otiluke’s freezing sphere, or similar spellsinstantly turn a waterwall into a wall of ice and inflict maximum normaldamage for the initial spell (the cone of cold, etc.) to the creatures trappedwithin the waterwall/wall of ice. These creatures also lose any saving throwthe damaging spell would normally carry. (For instance, cone of cold usuallyallows a saving throw for half damage. Creatures trapped in the waterwallwould receive no saving throw vs. the damage of the cone of cold.)

A successful melee attack against a creature trapped in a waterwall re-duces the target to 0 hit points, just as if the target were helpless, unaware, orincapacitated by a hold person spell. A ring of free action negates the affects ofa waterwall for its wearer.

The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and avial of water.

6th Level

Conjure Water Elemental (Conjuration/Summoning) ReversibleSphere: Elemental Water, SummoningRange: 80 yardsComponents: V, SDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Tune: 6 roundsArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneA caster who performs this spell opens a special gate to the Elemental Planeof Water and summons a water elemental to do his or her bidding. It is 65%likely that a 12-Hit Die elemental appears, 20% likely that a 16-Hit Die ele-mental appears, 9% likely that 1d3+3 varrdigs appear, 4% likely that a maridappears, and 2% likely that a huge water elemental of 21 to 24 Hit Dice(20+1d4) appears. The caster needs but to command the creature sum-moned, and it does as she or he desires, for the elemental regards the caster asa friend to be obeyed and will not turn on him or her. The elemental remainsuntil destroyed, disspelled, sent away by a dismissal or holy word spell (see the6th-level priest spell conjure fire elemental), or the spell duration expires.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

7th levelIstishia�s Port (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 0Components: VDuration: InstantaneousCasting Tune:Area of Effect:

4The caster

Saving Throw: None

Many priests of Istishia have felt the need to leave the Prime MaterialPlane and travel the multiverse to discover how the Water Lord is viewedand respected on other planes. When Istishia is ready for them to leave thePrime Material, he grants his priests this spell.

The caster must be standing in a body of water. When Istishia’s port iscast, the priest’s body and all his or her belongings turn into water, mergingwith the surrounding water. The priest can then transport himself or herselfto any plane of existence where another body of water exists.

The spell normally only affects the priest, but Istishia has on a few occa-sions altered the spell to allow an entire company of priests (or the com-panions of one priest) to travel to the planes to do work in his service.

Tsunami (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 240 yardsComponents: V, MDuration: 1 d4 roundsCastmq Time: 1 turnArea of Effect: VariableSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a huge, racing wall of water that destroys structures of lessthan the sturdiest stone construction. The size and destructive power of thewave depends on the amount of water pressure, and it can be up to 10 feethigh per level of the caster. An average river can wash away a farmstead,and an ocean can inundate an entire town. The tsunami washes away andscatters unprotected creatures with up to 3 Hit Dice, who must make a suc-cessful saving throw vs. death magic or be killed. Unprotected creatureswith 4 or more Hit Dice take 3d6 points of damage per round of exposure.The tsunami has the same effect as an earthquake (see the 7th-level priestspell of that name) on all structures except those made of solidly con-structed stone.

The material components for this spell are the priest’s holy symbol and asmall stone, which is thrown into the water.

Iyachtu Xvim

(The Godson of Bane, the Godson, the son of Bane,the New Darkness, the Cruel Master)L e s s e r P o w e r o f G e h e n n a , L EPORTFOLIO: Tyranny, hatredALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Chamada/Bastion of HateSUPERIOR: None (formerly Bane-now dead)ALLIES: None (formerly Bane-now dead)FOES: The entire Faerûnian pantheon, but especially CyricSYMBOL : A pair of bright, glowing green eyes superimposed on the

palm of an upright, human-shaped hand of utter black-ness (Xvim Empowered) or (older) a pair of green, glow-ing eyes peering out of darkness

WOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CEIyachtu Xvim (Ee-YAK-too ZVIHM) is said to be theresult of a union between the Black Lord, Bane, and agreater or a true tanar’ri, and thus the blood of Baneruns through his veins. (Another tales says he is thespawn of the Black Lord and a corrupted paladin.)Xvim served as Bane’s instrument in the Realms, car-rying out the wall of his father prior to the Godswar.He apparently declared his independence with theTime of Troubles, though whether this occured before

When Xvim was a weaker power, silver weapons were able to damagehim, but this no longer applies. Magical weapons of the level of enchant-ment needed to damage a lesser power are now required to strike him. Xvimis immune to illusions and fear or charm spells, spell-like effects or abilities.or after the death of his father is unknown. During the Time of Troubles,

Xvim found himself mysteriously confined to the subterranean depths ofFaerûn-specifically, under Zhentil Keep. It took the demi-power from theend of the Time of Troubles until the destruction of Zhentil Keep to escapehis earthen prison and establish a base in Gehenna. (Rumors reportingthat Xvim was sighted in the Moonshaes before his escape from beneathZhentil Keep are attributed to the Cult of Bane there summoning up atanar’ri or baatezu who took a form resembling that of Xvim in sly mock-ery of Xvim, since Xvim was unable to come himself.) Shortly after hisemergence, Xvim was able to use a group of devout cultists to boost hisstature to that of a lesser deity, and he now considers himself a full-fledgedpower of the planes.

Other Manifestations

Xvim is evil through and through. He is vain, arrogant, and a bully, justas he has always been. However, after his incarceration he seems smarter,

cagier, and cannier than before and has taken a more subtle approach topower than earlier legends give him credit for. With the setbacks that Cyricsuffered, Xvim managed to snatch away from Cyric some aspects of the for-mer portfolio of his father, Bane. His plan is eventually to fully subsume hisfather’s Portfolio and status among the deities of Faerûn

Xvim has a hatred for all the deities of Faerûn, regardless of alignment.He is unsure of who it was that put him in the earth. (One report claims itwas Ao.) Xvim blames the entire Faerûnian pantheon for his misfortunes,and he plots his revenge accordingly. Xvim sees the Cyrinishad incident asan opportunity to show the former worshipers of Bane that the upstart mor-tal Cyric is incompetent and that only Bane or one of his blood is truly wor-thy of obedience. He wants to eliminate Cyric completely, but for now he issatisfied with seeing him reduced to power.

Apart from the rising church of Xvim in Zhentil Keep, Xvim is strongestin the East, particularly in Thay, but his cultists can be found throughoutthe Realms. Currently, Xvim is busy building up his clergy. He is centeringhis efforts in what’s left of Zhentil Keep. Just as the Keep is in the middle ofits rebirth, Xvim sees his church as having a fresh start as well. Xvim con-siders the Keep’s comeback and his own ascendancy to be linked.

Iyachtu Xvim�s Avatar(Fighter 24, Mage I6, Cleric I4)Iyachtu Xvim, in his natural form, is a giant but broad-shouldered 12-foot-tall man with brown-black, scaly skin who often goes scantily clothed. He hasglowing green eyes and long, unruly black hair. In fact, he looks rather like alarge troll, though he is said to be the offspring of Bane and a tanar’ri. He canattack with his powerful claws, but he favors using the Scimitar of Souls. Xvimis a vain being, and most often appears in a form he can naturally shape changeinto at will-that of a dark-skinned. black-haired man in his thirties, of aver-age height and possessing rakish good looks and eyes of a brilliant emeraldhue (which look unnaturally bright and vivid for human eves).

He delights in slaying and destroying things. He needs to dominate allbeings around him, and he enjoys seeing mortals grovel and sobbingly begfor mercy. He can draw spells from any school or sphere, but particularly en-joys those that twist mortals to his service against their will or cause linger-ing damage.

AC -3 (true form) or AC 4 (human); MV 15 (true form) or 12 (human); HP 196;

THAC0 -3; #AT 5/2Dmg ld8+15 (Scimitar of Souls), +10 STR, +2 spec. bonus in scimitar) orld8+10/1d8+10 (claws, +10 STR)

MR 70%; SZ L (12 feet) or M (6 feet)

Str 22, DEX 20, CON 23, INT 19, Wis 17, CHA 17Spells P: 8/8/7/5/3/2/1, W: 5/5/5/5/5/3/2/1

Saves PPDM 3, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: In his natural form, Xvim can attack with each clawonce a round or five times every two rounds with the Scimitar of souls. In hishumanlike form, Xvim attacks with the Scimitar of Souls. The Scimitar ofSouls is a lawful evil-aligned, black-bladed scimitar +3 that can cleave allknown magical barriers (for example, prismatic Spheres or walls of force)without the wielder taking harm, and whose every strike drains two life en-ergy levels from living beings or destroys (nondivine) undead creatures.

In either form, Xvim is able to use true seeing, suggestion, and create asphere of darkness, 15’ radius about himself at will. Every other round, inaddition to his normal number of attacks and spells, Xvim is able to flingreaving blades (as the 4th-level priest spell described below) with but athought.

Iyachtu Xvim usually manifests as a heavy, greasy black cloud lit by twogreen, glowing eyes as large as a man’s head. The cloud can speak, castspells, or hurl black bolts of lightning that burn rather than dischargingelectricity and deal 5d6 points of damage per strike (save for halt damage).Alternately, Xvim occasionally manifests as a black snake roughly 70 feetlong, with a diameter the size of a large wagon, a flat adderlike head, andblazing green eyes. In this form Xvim has a MV of 9, a THAC0 of 5, 72 hitpoints (effectively 16 HD), and bites once per round for 5d6 points of dam-age. He has no venom, but possesses a bone tall spike that can stab for 8d4points of piercing damage; however, it strikes at a -2 attack penalty sinceXvim is not yet used to this form.

Xvim also acts through the appearance or presence of beholders and be-holder-kin, fang dragons, green dragons, blue dragons, brown dragons, hellhounds, cockatrices, pyrolisks, imps, dark nagas, reaves, tso, nyths (detailedin FA1 Halls of the High King), and some undead creatures. More commonlyhe sends bats, black dogs, green-eyed black cats, black-and-green moths,flies, hematites, black star sapphires, sheens, emeralds, bloodstones, mala-chites, blood hawks, and vultures to show his favor or disfavor and as a signto inspire his faithful.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusadersCLERGY'S ALIGN.: LN, N, LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, if neutral, SP: Yes, Cru: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, if evil, SP: Yes, Cru: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and crusaders of Iyachtu Xvim receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Iyachtu Xvim attracts the same sort of cruel, power-hungry folk whoworshiped Bane. Some are fascinated by the awe and fear they feel in hispresence, some take comfort in the rigid rules and the promise that hu-mankind will prevail over all through might, taming all Faerûn, and othersfeel truly alive when engaged in the ruthless intrigue that is unending inthe Church of Darkness. Followers of Xvim, priests and lay folk, are calledXvimists, while priests of the Godson are known as Xvimlar, and the elitespecialty priests of the faith are known as authlims.

Xvimlar exult in destruction and in oppressing others and enjoy casuallydealing pain. Kicking folk they pass, slamming doors on people, and hurlingstones down busy streets at random are not uncommon acts for Xvimlar.Some Xvimlar are former Banites, since Banite clergy members were ac-tively courted and converted by the Xvimlar under orders from their CruelMaster. Xvimlar see Xvim as Bane�s heir.

Xvimlar jokingly title their novices �Vermin� and apply the title �Op-pressor� to those of 3rd level or less, �Hatemaster� to clergy of 4th through8th level, �Ruinlord� to those of 9th through 15th level, and �Tyrannar� toclergy of 16th or greater level. Titles in the church are the same regardless

successful at converting the remaining ultra-orthodox Banite, who seeXvim as holding the most valid claim to succeed Bane.

The leaders and spies in this �conversion� work are the authlims�whose primary mission, though, is to kidnap especially ruthless and pow-erful people (tyrants) to take their spirits to Xvim for him to feed upon.Both sorts of priests of Xvim have as their secondary missions the slaugh-ter of the priests and clergy members of all other faiths than Xvim�s, thespreading of fear, and the enhancement of Xvim�s reputation by acts ofcruelty and tyranny. Eliminating other priests must be done covertly,however, lest all faiths rise up together against the church of Xvim andoverwhelm it.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: There are as yet no known cal-endar-related festivals in the church of Xvim, though some temples cele-brate his Coming, albeit on different days. (Some decree is expected to fixa firm date for this in the near future.) Xvim expects his priests to pray tohim whenever they take a life in his name (even if the heat of battle orflight continues) and to bow down to him in prayer morning and evening,preferably in front of a high altar.

High rituals involve horrific sacrifices of intelligent creatures and de-praved gladiatorial combats (observed by the assembled priests) betweengoaded and starved beasts and desperate unarmed captives, conductedamid fragile glass items that can be shattered to yield weapons that harmboth the wielder and targets. The church is also rumored to conductchanting dances wherein priests work themselves into frenzies and thenattack slaves and lesser priests wildly but barehanded, kicking and fight-ing until at least one combatant falls bleeding (whereupon bells are struckto end the strife and the ritual). In this young faith, rituals are still devel-oping and changing quickly.

Major Centers of Worship: The supreme head of the church of Xvimis High Tyrannar Fzoul Chembryl, who, assisted by Ruinlord Xana theOnce-Martyred, rules in the name of the Godson from the Heart of theHand, a subterranean temple beneath the remnants of Zhentil Keep. Sev-eral temples in Thay are growing rapidly in power, but Fzoul�s abject loy-alty, brilliant schemes, authlim spies, and beholder allies have kept him at

of gender, and temples are run in a strictly hierarchical manner, with thefaith being led by a High Tyrannar. Crusaders of the faith, of which thereare few as of yet, report directly to a temple�s high priest (usually a Ruinlordor Tyrannar), with one exclusive unit of crusaders and battle-hardened war-riors directly at the High Tyrannar�s disposal.

the pinnacle of the faith of the New Darkness, and continue to do so.Xvim ensures Fzoul�s loyalty by possessing him at regular intervals tothoroughly explore his thoughts and memories�and highly values hiscunning experience with religious infighting and conducting intrigues.

Affiliated Orders: The Church of Darkness has only one affiliatedknightly order, the Brothers of the Black Fist, a still-forming order to whichthe crusaders of the faith belong and which commands fighters attracted tothe discipline and decisive leadership of Xvim�s forces. With Fzoul Chem-bryl as its High Tyrannar, the Church of Darkness is also likely to developintimate ties to the Zhentarim if it is not so allied already.

Priestly Vestments: Ritual vestments for an authlim are a blackenedmetal skullcap wand a black amice (overmantle) with thin, bright greenpiping or braidwork worn over a long, black cassock with green maniplesattached to its sleeves, so they flash green out of the black garb when thepriest gestures. The garb is completed by a green ecclesiastical stole em-broidered with the symbol of Xvim. Ritual garments for rank and fileXvimlar are a green surplice adorned on the breast with the symbol ofXvim worn over a plain black cassock. This outfit is augmented out ofdoors or in ritual processions with a black cope (overcloak) embroideredon the back with the symbol of Xvim, black gloves, and a black miter setwith two green gems to represent the eyes of Xvim.

Thus far, Xvim has shown a preference for underground temples, espe-cially ones converted from abandoned temples of Bane. However, somegrand temples have been dedicated or rededicated to him in Thay, most no-tably in Bezantur, City of a Thousand Temples, where the Church of Dark-ness maintains the House of Iyachtu Xvim, a new stone building with alarge central hall, two long wings, and ample living and storage facilities.

Dogma: Xvim delights in death and destruction, and encourages his de-voted to emulate him. In Xvim�s dark, twisted mind, nothing worthy is ac-complished without the destruction of something else. Those who wouldfollow Xvim must be as committed to destruction, oppression, and crueltyas he is. Xvim favors a crushing pecking order that rewards those who shoveothers aside for personal gain. Those at the top of the food chain prey onthose at the bottom. Those at the bottom either survive (and becomestronger) or perish�in which case, they were weak and did not belong inXvim�s camp anyway.

Novice Xvimlar are charged as follows by senior clergy members: �Obeyor die in pain and utter destruction. Enslave or slay the weak, and be surethat they know their suffering is in Xvim�s name and by his will. Cause painand fearful obedience in others whenever prudent. Be a cruel, heartlesstyrant, and Xvim shall be pleased. Slay the priests of other gods wheneveryou can do so without being identified by others. Capture tyrants and takethem to senior clergy members to be delivered unto Xvim. Capture all wiz-ards and bring their magic to the church�or bring them to Xvim�s most se-nior servants so that they can be transformed into creatures who will do ser-vice to Xvim as guardians. Spread fear of Xvim over all the lands. Destroywhatever and whoever bars his will and see that word of his power spreadsbut that no one survives to describe your deeds in detail except mortals whoworship him. Destroy all witnesses to secret acts, but leave alive survivorsto tell of Xvim�s power when spreading casual destruction. There is a de-light in destruction�feel it, and indulge in it.�

Day-to-Day Activities: The Xvimlar are busily roaming Faerûn, in-spired by the coming out of their Cruel Master into open godhood. Wher-ever they go they are challenging and slaying clergy of Cyric (their ac-knowledged enemy) and urging still-faithful Banite priests to join in wor-ship of Xvim�or perish at their hands. For the most part, they have been

Authlims wear spiked and imposing black battle armor and snort black

Adventuring Garb: The adventuring priest of Xvim dresses like anyarmored priest, favoring black armor with green accessories. Everydaywear is black (often black robes) with green piping as trim, or with gloves,belts or sashes, collars, and pouches of a startlingly bright emerald hue.

great helms fashioned into the likenesses of monster's heads with greengems for the eyes.

Specialty Priests (Authlims)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 12, Wisdom 10PRIME REQ.: Strength. WisdomA L I G N M E N T : L EWEAPONS: All nonmissile bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons

and javelinsARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERESS: All, combat, divination, elemental, guardian, necro-

mantic, summoning, thought, warMINOR SPHERES: Creation, healing (reversed forms only), law, sun (re-

versed forms only)

MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Modern languages (pick one from: beholder, bugbear,

gargoyle, common giant, gnoll, goblin, High Shou,kobold, kuo-toan, Midant, minotaur, Mulhorandi, ogre,orc, sahuagin, Undercommon, Untheric, urd, yuan-ti)

BONUS PROFS: Blind-fighting, modern languages (pick another fromthe previous listing) 4 t h L e v e l

• Authlims gain a +1 to saving throws against spells cast by priests ofCyric or Bane. In addition, they gain a +1 to attack and damage rollsagainst these priests.

• Authlims are unaffected by fear spells, though they may be affected byother emotion-affecting spells and by spell-like abilities that engenderfear.

• In the hands of an authlim, a rod of rulership works on 2d4+2×100 HitDice of creatures within 240 yards per charge, and a charge lasts forthree turns. Saving throws vs. the rod of rulership’s effects (when applic-able) are at a -2 penalty.

• Authlims are able to heal themselves once a day at will by calling on thedivine power of Xvim. They can restore 2 hit points per experiencelevel using this ability: They may only heal themselves in this manner,however.

• At 3rd level, authlims are able to cast mace of Xvim (as the 2nd-levelpriest spell) once a day.

• At 5th level, authlims are able to cast neutralize poison or poison (as the4th-level priest spells) once a day.

• At 5th level, authlims can generate an aura of fear in a 10-foot radius.This aura is similar to the fear 4th-level mage spell. Those who succeedin their saving throw against this effect still get an uneasy feeling, butthis feeling does not affect their actions. The aura can be called up onceper day, and lasts 1 round per level of the authlim. Fellow Xvimlar andother authlims, as well as diehard priests of Bane, are immune to its ef-fects.

• At 7th level, authlims are able to cast reaving blades and cure seriouswounds (as the 4th-level priest spells) once a day.

• At 9th level, authlims are able to cast a protection from good, 10’ radius(as the reverse of the 4th-level priest spell protection from evil, 10’ radius)once per day, lasting 1 round per level of the authlim.

• At l0th level, authlims are able to cast cure critical wounds (as the 5th-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 15th level, authlims are able to cast heal (as the 7th-level priestspell) once a tenday.

• At 17th level, authlims are able to cast gate (as the 7th-level priestspell) once a month.

• At 20th level, authlims are able to cast binding (as the 8th-level wizardspell) twice a month. They usually use this ability as a threat to bully abeing they have gated into doing them a favor.

Xvimlar SpellsIyachtu Xvim learned how to grant a great many of the spells his father wascapable of granting to his followers while in his father’s service. DungeonMasters may wish to allow any or all of the spells exclusive to the church ofBane to he used also by the church of Iyachtu Xvim. The battletide spell de-railed below is a spell brought to the knowledge of the church by FzoulChembryl when he joined Xvim’s faith.

2nd LevelMace of Xvim (Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 0Comp0nent.s: V, S, MDuration: 5 roundsCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell conjures up a short-lived glowing mace in the caster’s hand thatstrikes with a +3 attack bonus, deals 1d12+2 points damage at a strike, andforces all struck items to succeed at an item saving throw vs. crushing blowor shatter. The mace vanishes if it leaves the possession of the caster andcannot be wielded by any other being. All magical items and enchantedsubjtances or surfaces hearing a dweomer get at +4 bonus to their savingthrows against the shattering power of the mace. Any item that succeeds atits saving throw once against a particular mace of Xvim need not do soagain even if struck repeatedly.

PORTFOLIO: Death, the deadALIASES: NoneDOMAINNAME: Oinos/Crystal SpireSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Mystra, JergalFOES: Cyric, Talona, VelsharoonSYMBOL: An upright, bone-colored skeletal arm holding the

golden scales of justice balanced evenly in its fistagainst a steel-gray field

WOR. ALIGN.: Any

The mace has a reach of 5 feet hut is almost weightless; casters of anysize and strength can easily wield it. It appears as a black, spiked, knob-headed, one-piece rod surrounded by a dim, flickering, blue radiance.

The material component of this spell is an iron or steel nail, sliver, orfragment.

Reaving Blades (Evocation, Necromancy)Sphere: CombatRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 2 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates two whirling black blades of force that spin end overend as they fly through the air at MV Fl 18 (B) to strike at whatever tar-gets the caster wills them to— either two separate beings or a single foe.The blades of force vanish at the end of the second round and do no dam-age to inanimate objects, but each one silently slices twice during a roundat undead and living things. The reaving blades strike with the caster’sTHAC0, but with +6 attack bonus, and deal 2d12 points of damage on asuccessful strike. Reaving blades does no damage to items worn or carriedby attacked beings, though fragile items could well be harmed if droppedby a struck target.

The material components of this spell are two raven’s feathers and afragment of or an entire bladed weapon.

5th LevelBattletide (Alteration)Sphere: CombatRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 6 roundsCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: 20-foot rddiusSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell slows all beings within a 20-foot spherical radius centered onthe caster except the caster. Affected beings move and attack at half-speed. (The spell affects beings within the radius of effect at the time ofcasting, not creatures who later come within range of the caster duringthe duration of the spell.) Beings affected by the spell remain slowed evenif they move beyond the original area of effect of the spell.

The magic transfers the energy it steals from its victims to the caster,who is hasted for the spell duration without any of the aging effects of ahaste spell. The caster moves at double his or her normal movement rateand makes physical attacks twice as fast (that is, a being who attacks onceper round would attack twice—first in the round and then last). Battletidedoes not allow spellcasting to be hastened.

All beings within range of the caster are allowed to make sayingthrows vs. spell once a round to avoid, or instantly break free of, the bat-tletide. The spell ends entirely when the last victim escapes its effects or atthe end of its duration. On the first round, the saving throw to avoid bat-tletide’s effects is made at a -6 penalty; on the second, at a -5 penalty; onthe third, at a -4 penalty, and so on.

The material component of this spell is a piece of cobweb, human hair,or silk thread as long as the caster’s hand.

Kelemvor(Lord of the Dead, Judge of the Damned

M a s t e r o f t h e C r y s t a l S p i r e )

Kelemvor (KELL-ehm-vor), a former associate ofMidnight, Cyric, and Adon during the events of theGodswar, inherited the portfolio of the god of thedead when Cyric lost those responsibilities followingthe Cyrinishad debacle. The first official act of thenewly created god of the dead was to turn Cyric’sBone Castle into a gleaming tower of crystal, a sym-bol that this particular god of the dead would hide

nothing from his subjects. He intends to impart justice among the dead in aneven-handed and fair manner.

Kelemvor is kind, just, forthright, and earnest, though stern at times.He is not terribly clever for a power and tends to try to solve what he per-ceives as his immediate problems with direct action. Though he meanswell, he does not always see the difficulties down the road caused by short-term solutions.

Kelemvor has an unexpected ally, at least in terms of traditional godly al-liances. He and Mystra, formerly the human Midnight, remain close. Theywere in love during their mortal lives, but whether this romance has kindledduring their godly tenure is a matter they have thus far kept private.

Cyric, who lost his death portfolio to Kelemvor, is Kelemvor’s bitterenemy. Cyric views Kelemvor as someone who pointedly and maliciously setout to steal a part of Cyric’s rightful power. One traditional foe of theFaerûnian god of the dead, Lathander, has not declared against Kelemvor,but is waiting to see if his actions live up to his promises.

Kelemvor�s Avatar (Fighter 33, Cleric 25, Mage 18)Kelemvor walks Faerûn quietly and unassumingly when he comes to it.Since Kelemvor was until recently a mortal human warrior, he appears muchas he did in life, as a square-jawed fighter with piercing green eyes in a dark,tanned face. He has a wild mane of black hair with a few streaks of gray in itand is clad in chain mail and dark leather. He always wears a wide belt bear-ing a large, cabochon-cut cat’s-eye jewel at its front, but it appears to haveno magical powers. He can draw from any sphere or school for his spells, butcasts necromantic sphere spells and necromancy school spells at triple effectin all respects and with a -3 penalty to any applicable saving throws by thevictims of such spells. Kelemvor will not create any sentient undead crea-tures, though he has no compunctions about using such to his own ends be-fore dispatching them to a final judgment.

AC -6; MV 15; HP 223, THAC0 -10; #AT 5/2Dmg 2d4+17 (bastard sword +3, +12 STR, +2 spec. bonus in bastard sword)MR 80%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 24, DEX 17, CON 22, INT 13, WIS 13, CHA 18Spells P: 10/9/9/9/9/8/4, W: 5/5/5/5/5/3/3/2/1Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: Kelemvor wraps himself in a cloak of shadows when hewishes to hide from mortal eyes and observe. This cloak bestows upon him a90% probability of being invisible while he moves or stands within a shad-owy or dark place; it also works similar to a cloak of displacement in that anymelee or missile attack aimed at Kelemvor automatically misses the firsttune. He is armed with both a bastard sword +3 and a rod of bone that projectsdeath to mortals with one end and emits death sleep from the other end. Heuses his bastard sword +3 only when brute force would prove the only re-maining answer to a situation.

Kelemvor can make one attack with the rod of hone per round. The deathend of the rod of bone causes any living creature to die instantly unless itmakes a successful saving throw vs. death magic. This death affect can attackone being per round within Kelemvor’s sight and causes dead victims to lev-itate a few inches upward and float in unbreakable stasis for 2 turns whenthey die. The death sleep end has a range of 150 yards and effects up to 8d10creatures within a 120-foot cubic area. Kelemvor may select beings withinthe area of effect to not effect. Death sleep does not bring true death to any-one, but merely a comalike collapse and suspension of all bodily functionslasting for an entire day. Beings in death sleep do not breathe, but suffer noharm from lack of air to internal organs and the like; their bodies simplycease to function. Such beings cannot he awakened, even with rough han-dling. Removal of death sleep before a complete day passes requires the appli-cation of both dispel magic and remove curse. The nature of this magic is suchthat a being casting one of the needed spells is made aware of the necessityof the other.

Kelemvor is immune to all necromancy and necromantic spells, spell-likeeffects, and abilities. He commands all nonintelligent undead he can see atwill and destroys them at will. He destroys all sentient undead he touchesunless they make a successful saving throw vs. death magic at a -6 penalty.

He can see in any sort of darkness as withrupted by light or heat as infravision is.

normal sight; this power is not dis-

Other ManifestationsKelemvor prefers to send a translucent image of a floating skull enfolded bya hood and surrounded by the flapping tatters of the rest of a diaphanousgray robe. This image is accompanied by the mournful whistle of winds. Ifnecessary, a real wind can accompany this image, and a tangible skeletal armcan reach out from it to point, handle items, carry beings, or attack. The armpossesses a Strength of 24 and can chill touch as the 1st-level wizard spell, asif cast by an 18th-level mage. The image can speak with the voice of thegod, though Kelemvor prefers not to speak aloud, or it can speak directlyinto the minds of beings who are present. This shrouded skull can drift aboutat MV Fl 21 (A), dispel (permanently disrupt with no saving throw) all un-dead within 90 feet, or animate dead all corpses within the same range tocommand them or turn their control over to a mortal, usually one of hispriests. Commands given by Kelemvor to the animated dead cannot be bro-ken by any mortal.

Kelemvor also indicates his favor or disfavor or sends aid through thepresence or actions of the demipower Jergal, pers, a few einheriar (whom hetransforms into minor deaths when his senior specialty priests summonthem) and watchghosts, but never any evil or corporeal undead.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, NG, LN, N, LE, NE (LE and NE only allowed pro-

visionally in the case of converted Myrkulytes, who mustchange to a neutral alignment within three years in thechurch or leave for another faith)

TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: YesCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: YesAll clerics and specialty priests of Kelemvor receive religion (Faerûnian) asa bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Those who see death as a necessary part of the cycle of life, not some-thing grisly and abhorrent in itself, are the favored followers of Kelemvor.They tend to be humans who derive personal comfort in seeing that disorderdoes not attend death and to be both sensitive and practical. Gravediggers,mourners, embalmers, monument carvers and stonecarvers who work ingraveyards all give their respects to Kelemvor, along with the relatives of therecently deceased and Kelemvor’s clergy. In addition, the majority of thetemples of Cyric that used to be temples of Myrkul have now switched theirways and allegiance to Kelemvor and are learning to follow him with asmuch fervor as they did Myrkul and Cyruk (their name for Cyric) in turn.These old-line converts tend to be more evil in nature, hut are drifting closerto neutrality as the years pass or leaving Kelemvor and finding other deitiesmore suited to their natures.

The bulk of the death clergy are clerics who comfort the dying, adminis-ter last rites, assist in funerals, burials, and the just and orderly setting rightof affairs that follow, place warning marks of plague and other diseases, andensure that the will or expressed desires of a deceased are followed. The re-mainder of the death clergy are the specialty priests, who Kelemvor hasblessed with unique foresight and applied wisdom that enables them to an-ticipate where death will occur and so direct the other clergy. Most specialtypriests are also charged with maintaining discipline within the clergy(quelling clerical attempts to prolong life due to sentimentality) and withfundraising to support the clergy. Most donations to the church are bequestsin the form of possessions or lands that must be sold, rented out, or—in thecase of profitable farm—worked by the clergy.

Specialty priests of Kelemvor are known as doomguides. The church hasnot been in existence long enough to develop even an informal consensusabout the usage of titles.

Dogma: Kelemvor is interested in having followers who recognize thatdeath is but a part of life. It is not an end but a beginning, not a punishmentbut a necessity. There is no deceit in death, nothing concealed, nothingchaotic. Death is an orderly process.

The followers of Kelemvor are not out to spread death and destruction inthe Realms. Rather, they seek to help others to die with dignity at their ap-pointed time and no sooner. Just as they do not seek to rush death, they alsospeak out against those who seek to artificially prolong their lives beyondtheir natural limits, including such magical creations as liches.

The charge of Kelemvor to his novitiates is this: “Death is but part of life:fear it not, evade it not, and view it not as evil. To fear death delivers youinto the hands of those who can bring death down upon you. Die with dig-nity, neither raging nor seeking to embrace undeath. Do honor to the dead,

both of these solemn high holy days, any priest of Kelemvor who casts speakwith dead can talk freely with the departed for as long as desired and holdconversations, not merely put questions to them for which the answer willbe a bare �yes� or �no.�

Major Centers of Worship: The only major center of Kelemvorite wor-ship thus far is the Tower of Skulls in Ormath, an abbey built as a zigguratwhose walls are carved with a stone facing in the shape of staring humanskulls. Its spiral ways are roamed by mysterious guardian creatures that resem-ble will o� wisps. The resident clergy, commanded by the High Lord DoomBezurgathan Indraeyan, can muster a capable army of battle-hardened clericswielding magical items to defend the abbey. Vast cellars reaching down to anunderground river for water and into caverns in which edible fungi are grownunderlie the Tower. The priests make potent amber wine and various per-fumes, unguents, and potions for sale from the fungi they raise.

Affiliated Orders: Thus far the church of Kelemvor has no affiliatedmilitary or knightly orders. All gravediggers, embalmers, and other cemeteryworkers and crafters who work for the church of Kelemvor and are notthemselves clergy belong to the Most Solemn Order of the Silent Shroud, asociety whose rolls are kept by the church and whose members know eachother as true members of the order by certain secret signs. They report anysigns of undead activity or desecration in graveyards tended by Kelemvoritesimmediately to the church. The Kelemvorite church is seriously consideringsponsoring a holy order of crusaders and paladins to target undead creaturesof fearsome prowess who tax the resources of the clergy of the nascentchurch. The tentative name of this group would be the Knights of EternalOrder, but church scholars are discussing other names that would be moreindicative of the order's duties.

Priestly Vestments: Clerics of Kelemvor usually wear smoky gray robesand cowled cloaks. Specialty priests can readily be identified by their silverheadbands, which are normally never removed, and by the symbol ofKelemvor displayed prominently in a badge on the chests of their somber, el-egant robes. Their robes are always of a single hue without trim or ostenta-tion and of dark, muted hues of green, blue, or gray, in ascending order ofrank; they can be worn over armor if need be. The scales in the badge ofKelemvor worn by a priest also denote rank: They are iron-colored for lowerclergy, silver for full priests, and gold for higher-ranking priests.

possible, no sentient being) die a natural death in all Faerûn without one of

for their strivings in life brought Faerûn to where it is now, an to forgetthem is to forget also where we are now�and why.�

The church of Kelemvor believes that seeking out those who are neardeath is their great duty, for it is the will of Kelemvor that no human (and if

his priests at their side. Kelemvor assigns the essences of the dead theirproper place in the ongoing cycle of existence, and it must be emphasized toall that he is the Great Guide, leading all folk into their next life. Death isnot a final ending, but the next step in a wondrous, ongoing journey. Let noone die not knowing that Kelemvor awaits them and that he is not to befeared, for he believes in justice and wields mercy.

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Kelemvor comfort the dying and pro-vide burials for those who die alone. They administer last rites to the dyingand help the living left behind to better understand the natural and in-evitable process of death and dying. When people die alone without a will,known heirs, or business partners, their goods are taken by the church tofund its ongoing ministry to the dying. This does not, by any means, meanthat death clergy would ever take goods from a grave for their own benefit.

When plagues, hordes, or great monsters run amok, they must be foughtby the death clergy, for it is not right that many die before their due time.When marauding dragons or other monstrous predators become problems,the death clergy should try to interest adventuring bands in slaying the prob-lems�failing that, they must deal with the problems themselves. In cases ofgreat pain, ravaging disease, or mutilation where death would be a mercy, itis the office of the priests of Kelemvor�and only the priests of Kelemvor�to bring death, as swiftly and painlessly as possible.

Undeath is an affront to Kelemvor. Undead creatures are to be destroyedor given true death whenever they are met with, and even sought out andhunted down for that holy purpose. Priests of Kelemvor are free to hire ortake as companions folk of other faiths to assist them in this purpose, for thegreat sin of undeath must be stamped out by whatever means possible.Though members of the clergy can command the undead, these commandsusually can be boiled down to �Go back to your graves and sleep there for-ever� except in times of dire need. Kelemvor has made no official statementto single out good-aligned undead creatures as an exception to his policy,though specific temples and individuals often take only lenient actionagainst or ignore such creatures in the field, preferring to concentrate theirefforts on those creatures of obvious malevolent intent or who are likely toquickly multiply.

All priests of Kelemvor may be called to a holy mission by their god ortheir senior clergy and pursue a more active and adventurous life. Suchpriests defend death clergy members and holdings when need be and bringdeath to others when it is necessary. For example, a Kelemvorite specialtypriest assigned a holy mission may be sent to lead an adventuring party tostop the spread of disease or kill beings seeking to disrupt natural cycles�such as mages who seek to create huge armies of undead or develop necro-mantic spells that can slay others and transform them inescapably into un-dead creatures under their control. Death clergy sent to slay predators or togo into dangerous country to comfort the dying are often issued scrolls of of-fensive spells or magical items of battle power gleaned from the goods ofthose who died alone.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Most folk experience the rituals ofthe death clergy in a personal way: As someone dies, a priest or priests ofKelemvor performs the Passing, a simple ceremony of last rites that is achant of comfort calling on Kelemvor to be alert for the coming essence ofthis person, who has enriched life in Faerûn in his or her own way andearned this salute. The Lament for the Fallen is a larger ceremony of this sortsung over a battlefield, ruined village or fortress, or other site where manyfolk have recently died.

Clergy of the god also lead a daily morning ceremony over graves, the Re-membrance, and a ritual that begins after nightfall, the Daeum. The Re-membrance is a dignified rite of songs and prayer usually attended by rela-tives of the dead. The Daeum, or Thanks to the Guide (Kelemvor), is a cel-ebration of the strength and purpose of the Great Guide and his church andis attended only by faithful followers of the god. It is at the close of this cer-emony that the goods of the dead are distributed to the assembled faithfuland any favors of the god or holy missions are dispensed through manifesta-tions or the orders of senior clergy.

The two great calendar-related holy days of the Church of Kelemvor areShieldmeet and the Feast of the Moon. During both of these days, priests ofthe Lord of the Dead tell tales of the Deeds of the Dead so that the greatnessand importance of the ancestors of those alive today will never be forgotten.They also call back from the dead heroes who are needed in the land again(in the opinion of mortal supplicants whom Kelemvor agrees with). During

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring clergy members are often given en-chanted gray domino masks entrusted to their use by the church that enablethem to detect undead (as the 1st-level wizard spell) and see with infravisionup to 60 feet in darkness. Adventuring priests dress functionally, wearingwhatever armor and clothing is practical. They are required to display thesymbol of their deity prominently. Often it is worn on the left breast overthe heart or is woven into a cloak.

Specialty Priests (Doomguides)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:

WEAPONS:

ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERESS:

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Constitution 12, Wisdom 14Constitution, WisdomLN, NE (NE only allowed provisionally in the case ofconverted Myrkulytes, who must change to LN withinthree years in the church or leave for another faith)All bludgeoning and piercing weapons (Type B, Type P,and Type P/B), sickles, and scythes, but no swords orother slashing weaponsAll armor types up to and including chain mail; noshieldsAll, astral, charm, combat, healing, law, necromantic,summoning, time, wardsCreation, divination, elemental, guardian, travelersSame as clericsNoneModern languages (pick two)

� Doomguides know a great deal about undead creatures and the ultimatedestinations of the spirits of living creatures after they die. This knowl-edge is separated into two fields: necrology and netherworld knowledge.(These fields of knowledge are identical to the necrology and nether-world knowledge nonweapon proficiencies from the Complete Book ofNecromancers.)

Necrology: Doomguides are well versed in necrology, the lore of un-dead creatures. When checking their necrology knowledge, doomguidesmake an ability check against their Wisdom score. Their knowledge maybe used to help determine the probably lairs, dining habits, and history ofsuch creatures (no ability check needed). Whenever a doomguide con-fronts an undead creature, she or he may be able to specifically identifythe creature (discerning between a ghast and a common ghoul, for in-

stance) with a successful ability check. In addition, provided thedoomguide makes another successful ability check, she or he recalls thecreature’s specific weaknesses and natural defenses or immunities. At theDM’s discretion a faded ability check (in either of these cases) revealsmisleading or even completely erroneous information which may actu-ally strengthen or otherwise benefit the undead creature.

Netherworld Knowledge: Doomguides steadfastly serve Kelemvor,who sees to the disposition of the dead, and so obtain a great deal of ar-cane knowledge. When checking their netherworld knowledge,doomguides make an ability check against their Wisdom score minusthree. Doomguides learn about the cosmology and organization of theOuter Planes and how this specifically relates to the Realms, focusingprimarily on the ultimate destination of spirits after death. In addition,doomguides learn about the dangerous behavior of the creatures that in-habit the nether regions, including such fiends as tanar’ri and baatezu.With a successful ability check to the modified Wisdom score, nether-world knowledge can reveal the specific weaknesses and natural immu-nities of beings from the Outer Planes. Netherworld knowledge can alsobe used to classify the exact type of extraplanar creature encounteredwith a successful ability check.

l Doomguides can affect triple the number of zombies and skeletons whencommanding or destroying undead.

l Doomguides gain a +1 on their saving throws vs. death magic.l Doomguides are able to feign death once per day (as the 3rd-level priest

spell, but affecting only themselves).l At 5th level, a doomguide gains a second chance at turning undead if the

previous attempt failed. This second attempt is as a priest two levelslower than the first attempt was.

l At 5th level, doomguides are able to cast chilling scythe (as the 2nd-levelpriest spell) once per day.

l At 7th level, doomguides are partially shielded from life-energy drain-ing attacks caused by monsters with connections to the Negative Mate-r ia l P lane o r ce r ta in spe l l s and weapons w i th s im i la r e f fec ts .Doomguides receive a saving throw vs. death magic against such attacks(to which they may apply their +1 bonus). If the saving throw is suc-cessful, a doomguide takes only physical damage from the attack. Alllevel-draining or ability-score draining damage is negated. Undeadcreatures making such an attack suffer 2d6 points of damage when adoomguide succeeds at his or her saving throw. If the saving throw isfailed, a doomguide suffers the normal damage.

l At 9th level, doomguides are able to summon a Bloodstone’ spectral steed(as the 6th-level wizard spell) once per day.

l At 10th level, doomguides can summon a minor death to fight for them.A minor death appears as a skeleton wearing a robe and wielding ascythe. A minor death can be summoned once per tenday. The sum-moned minor death fights obediently for 10 rounds (1 turn) or until thefight is over, whichever comes first, and then disappears. If the minordeath disappears before killing its opponent, another minor death can-not be summoned until the doomguide burns special incense (costing1,000 gp or more) on a consecrated altar in a temple to Kelemvor. Char-acters slam by a minor death can be raised again.

Minor Death (1): THAC0 1; #AT 1; Dmg 2d8 (scythe); AC-4; HD 8; hp 33; MV 18; SA THAC0 of 1and automatic initiativeroll of 1; SD Cannot be disarmed; immune to cold, fire, poison, andelectricity damage, sleep spells, and all enchantment/charm spells(as if an undead creature); cannot he turned; SZ M (6 feet); INTaverage (10); AL N; ML fearless (20); XP 5,000.

l At 16th level, a doomguide who casts resurrection or raise dead boosts therecipient’s resurrection survival score by 10%. (It cannot, however, ex-ceed 99%.) Furthermore, the doomguide only ages one year, not three,when casting the resurrection spell.

Kelemvorite Spells2nd LevelChilling Scythe (Evocation, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Tune: 5Area of Effect: One scytheSaving Throw: None

This spell creates an oversized but weightless scythe that can be wielded byany living creature either as a tool or as weapon. The scythe appears in thehands of the spellcaster, but may be given to another to be wielded. Thescythe is a two-handed, 7-foot-long device that is a +2 enchanted weapon,dealing 2d4+2 points of piercing and slashing (Type P/S) physical damage(1d8+2 vs. L-sized or larger creatures) plus chilling for a further 1d4 pointsof damage (no saving throw). This chilling damage is caused by draining oflife force, not by cold; however, the damage is not permanent as most typesof life-force drain are, and it can be healed as normal. A chilling scythe has aspeed factor of 5. Its dweomer enables its wielder to use it with no nonpro-ficiency penalties.

If a chilling scythe even touches an undead creature it deals the undeadbeing 4d6 points of damage and hurls it helplessly 20 feet away from thescythe. The undead creature cannot advance again until the next roundeven if this repulsion is brought up short by the creature impacting a barrierbefore the full distance is traversed.

The material component for this spell is a fragment of bone.

4th LevelDead March (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 hour/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 10 corpses or body partsSaving Throw: NoneThis spell animates multiple corpses or body parts without making themundead. Up to 10 once-living objects per level of the caster can be raised upfrom 1 to 14 feet above the ground and sent in a single direction so thatthey drift along in a straight line on the indicated route at MV Fl 10 (E).The caster can redirect them at any time by concentrating, so as to allowthem to follow a winding road or simply to change direction. The spell isnot ended, nor contact lost, if the caster engages in other spellcasting. Thespell works underwater, so that the animated army of the dead can marchdown into a river, across its bed, and up the far bank. The magic is not bro-ken by long falls; an animated band that marches over a cliff continues onits way at the bottom.

The animated corpses can be dressed in uniforms to deceive observers orbe used as light transport by strapping pouches or weapons to them, but thespell cannot keep single items that weigh even a trifle over 200 lbs. aloft, sopack trams of the animated dead are impractical. The spell can be endedbefore it expires if the caster so wills. At the spell’s end the dead fallabruptly to the ground or sink gently down, as the caster desires. The ani-mated dead have no sentience or hostile intent and cannot be affected bymagic intended to affect or control undead, neither can they be turned.

The material components for this spell are a miniature or full-size drumstick or a chicken leg bone and a thread.

5th LevelDeny Death (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 30 yardsComponents: V, SDuration: 1 hour/levelCasting Tune: 8Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell places willing or senseless beingsthe previous turn into a sort of suspendedhostile beings who are still conscious or who are under the effect of a mag-ical or psionic charm or sleep effect. This suspended sleep prevents further

who have suffered injury withinanimation. It does not work on

loss of blood, vital fluids, and hit points and prevents foreign substancesand poisons that are propelled through the body by the natural actions ofbreathing, blood pumping, or digestion from dispersing any further in thebody. It can therefore serve to keep poisoned or sorely wounded beings alivefor the spell duration

Deny death also protects its recipient against additional damage fromnonmagical attacks or handling. This allows, for example, the caster to draga sorely injured companionover rough ground without causing furtherharm. The caster can end theeffect instantly at will regardless of how muchdistance separates him or her from the affected being. Recipients of denydeath cannot rouse themselves, nor are they awakened by attacks upon them.

his flaming fist attacks, Kossuth can also send out a blazing wave of heat,inflicting 10d4 points of damage to all creatures within 120 feet; a success-ful saving throw vs. breath weapon reduces this damage by half. Thosewho gaze directly upon Kossuth must make a successful saving throw vs.spell at a -2 penalty each round they do so or be subject to the effects of afire charm spell.

Kossuth cannot cross bodies of water or nonflammable liquids wider thanhe is (20 feet). Kossuth can leave a field of battle or the Prime MaterialPlane at any time by spending two rounds merging with a large fire.

Kossuth(The Lord of Flames, the Firelord,the Tyrant Among Fire, Tyrant Among Fire Elementals)Greater Power of the Elemental Plane of Fire, NPORTFOLIO: Elemental fire, fire elementalists, purification through

fireALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Elemental Plane of Fire/The Crimson PillarSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Amaunator (now dead), Flandal Steelskin, Iyachtu

Xvim, Moradin, SurtrFOES: IstishiaSYMBOL: A springing flame or a flaming orbWOR. ALIGN.: Any

Kossuth (Koh-SOOTH), spoken like a whisperingflame, is the patron of all fire elementals as well as anywho view fire as a purifying and revitalizing force. He isnormally depicted as a huge pillar of flame boiling sky-ward. He represents the burning away of the old tomake way for the new with the cognizance that the wayto change is harsh and measured. He is the fire in thehearth which appears comforting but which may turn

on its owner at any time and burn the house down. He is the mystery of fire,the unknowable secret that speaks inspiration to smiths and death to crazedpeople who burn things and people for pleasure.

Like all the elemental lords, Kossuth seems to hold little affectiontoward his followers on Abeir-Toril. His reactions seem calculated in endresult, if alien in logic; he moves toward a certain end, but has not sharedthat end with anyone on Faerûn. He seems driven, however, to collectmore followers to do his bidding in the Realms than any of the other ele-mental lords�perhaps because he burns them out so quickly. The alien anduncaring stance of Kossuth and the other elemental lords has led to themistaken impression in the Realms that they are only lesser powers andtheir followers merely bizarre cultists. During the Time of Troubles, Kossuthwas not spotted in the Realms.

Kossuth readily accepts what offerings are burnt in his name, but is saidto prefer garnets, topazes, citrine, fine smithwork in iron or precious metals,nuts, fine oils, aromatic resins, and meat. His gifts to his followers are theability to use fire to their greatest benefit and protection from heat andflames. Kossuth is the only elemental lord who seems to return kind forkind; he rewards those who have been most faithful to him or made largersacrifices more than he does newcomers to his faith or those who give onlya token offering.

Kossuth's Avatar(30 -HD Fire Elemental, Cleric 30, Mage 30)

Kossuth has appeared much more often on the surface of Abeir-Toril thanthe other elemental lords because he is the only elemental lord to ever havebeen noted to respond to a summoning ceremony, but even his appearancesnumber fewer than a dozen. Kossuth has appeared upon the prime in re-sponse to one of two calls: a truly immense bonfire constructed in his nameor a complex summoning performed by the leaders of his church. Kossuth isan awesome spectacle, appearing as a column of red-hot fire more than 60feet high and 20 feet in diameter. His voice is a hissing whisper accompa-nied by disturbing crackles and pops that can be heard for hundreds of yardsin every direction. He casts spells from the elemental fire and healingspheres and the elemental fire school.

AC -4; MV 24; HP 296; THAC0 -9; #AT 2Dmg 9d8MR 50%; SZ G (60 feet)STR 20, DEX 23, CON 23, INT 21, WIS 19, CHA 17Spells P: 12/11/11/10/9/9/8, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6Saves PPDM 2, R S W 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Kossuth is considered a native of the Prime MaterialPlane in any crystal sphere he appears in so long as fire can naturally existin that sphere. This makes him immune to the adverse effects of such spellsas anti-magic shell, protection from evil/good, and holy word on creatures fromother planes. He also has total immunity to any spell that causes damage byfire (fireball, flame arrow, flame strike, etc.).

Each flaming tendril of Kossuth�s avatar form cuts through all magicalor natural resistances to fire, including the fire shield spell. In addition to

Other ManifestationsKossuth has manifested sporadically in the Realms, but much more fre-quently than the other elemental lords. Any significant blaze is viewed as amanifestation of the Firelord by his faithful. The followers of the TyrantAmong Fire report seeing their lord amongst the flames of every burningbuilding. Needless to say, this has done little to endear them to the residentsof such buildings. (More times than not, the presence of any follower of Kos-suth near a burning building reveals the source of the blaze.) Kossuth some-times sends servant creatures from the Elemental Plane of Fire such as fire el-ementals, salamanders, fire snakes, efreet, fire bats, smoke and magma para-elementals, and azers to do his bidding or aid followers. Starting a fire suc-cessfully is always seen as a sign of Kossuth�s favor, as is successfully forging apiece of smithwork.

The ChurchCLERGY: Specialty priests, crusaders, monks, shamansCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LG, NG, LN, N, LE, NETURN UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if goodCMND. UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, Mon: No, Sha: Yes, if neutral or evilAll specialty priests, crusaders, monks, and Shamans of Kossuth receive reli-gion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Kossuthan priests arestrongly encouraged to learn blacksmith, blind-fighting, and brewing in ad-dition to their required proficiencies. All shamans of Kossuth receive ele-mental fire as one of their major spheres in addition to their normal spheresof magic.

Before the Time of Troubles, all of the elemental cults had clerics in theirranks. Now, only specialty priests remain. Why Kossuth abruptly decided toconvert his clerics to specialty priests is unknown, but the Kossuthan churchconsiders it one of the elements of purity within the faith that those closestto Kossuth are allowed to concentrate on the spells and activities that are ofmost interest to their lord. Since the Godswar, the Kossuthan church hasadded several monastic orders and an order of crusaders to the church to ful-fill duties in the ranks of the priesthood previously tended to by Kossuthanclerics.

Followers of Kossuth on Abeir-Toril seem to be plotters and schemers in-tent n cleanly reorganizing the world as it is into their own vision of per-fection�through abrupt and violent means if necessary. Of all the elemen-tal cults, Kossuth's is probably the most dangerous and unpedictable in thatindividual churches of Kossuth are led by powerful leaders with a rigid priesthierarchy beneath them but no ultimate authority other than Kossuth to re-port to�and Kossuth does not seem much to care what they do, as long asthey honor him. Its priests and its members are quick to resort to violenceand quick to take offense at the actions of others; the �justice� of a Kos-suthan is harsh, quick, and brutally suited to the offense or the crime.

Temples of Kossuth are led by a great many proud, deadly, and deter-mined individuals, all convinced that their way is they way. Strict obedienceis required�or rather, demanded�within the church. Those who goagainst the wishes of the ruling priests frequently find themselves tossed intoa nearby river or lake and effectively excommunicated from the church.(Splashing a follower of Kossuth with water is considered an insult.)

The priests of Kossuth are organized into two factions: the Tendrils ofFlame and the Burning Braziers. The Tendrils are those who operate the var-ious temples across Faerûn, catering to the faithful and preaching the wordof Kossuth to the masses. The Tendrils perform most religious ceremoniesand see to the observance of rituals and holidays. They hold most of thepower in the faith and hurl themselves into regional intertemple and localpolitical frays, generally making themselves famous for infamous near theirtemples.

The Burning Braziers, also known as the Brazier Brigade by critics of thechurch, are the adventuring arm of the faith. These frequently embitteredpriests are often former members of the Tendrils who fell out badly in a po-litical squabble in their former temples. They venture forth out into landsthat have not seen the �wisdom of Kossuth,� often leaving burning buildingsin their wake. Preaching the word of the Tyrant, they discover new areas

that are ready to accept a church of Kossuth. (Pragmatically, most folkwould say that they look for areas ripe for the picking�those with weakleadership or little protection.)

Novice Kossuthans are referred to as the Lightless. Upon taking the Oathof Firewalking, they become full priests and are known as the Promised. Inascending order of rank, the titles in general use by the Promised are: Torchof the Faith, Righteous Flame, Devoted Blaze, Zealous Pyre, Pillar of Flame,Fury of the Faith, Flamebrother/Flamesister, Inspired Forge, NuminousBlaze, Most Fervid Fire, and Eternal Flame of Kossuth. Specialty priests ofKossuth are known as firewalkers. Monks of Kossuth are known as FaithfulFlames.

Kossuth�s priests are organized into temples. Each temple is led by anEternal Flame who is a specialty priest. Under the Eternal Flame are threeMost Fervid Fires, and under each of them are two Numinous Blazes. Undereach Numinous Blaze is one of every other rank of clergy member down toDevoted Blazes. A temple has as many priests of Devoted Blaze rank andbelow, novices, and members of the laity as it can support, with the break-down of numbers of each rank of priest being as equally divided among theZealous Pyres as possible. Progress through the ranks is through experienceuntil the rank of Devoted Blaze, and then only through the recommenda-tion of two higher-ranking priests when an opening occurs. Promotions arealways confirmed by the temple�s Eternal Flame, who may negate any pro-motion or promote anyone to any position as she or he wishes without fol-lowing normal procedure (within the limits of the numbers of each rank ofpriest allowed in a temple). In primitive or nomadic societies, Kossuth isserved by shamans who are allied to no particular temple but held in greatrespect by their communities, which usually fear them.

Shrines and temples of Kossuth are always made of hard stone, ceramic,and metal so as to withstand the hottest natural blaze and most magicalones. Most are rather solid and blocky in general feel with soaring central el-ements or columns to give the impression of huge bonfires blazing up fromthe floor. All are well lighted at all times. Gems and precious metal usuallyencrust most surfaces of the sanctuary but are sparsely distributed elsewhereso as to enhance the sumptuous effect of the holy sanctum.

Dogma: The teachings of the Kossuthan religion on Toril are builtaround an assumption that those fit to succeed will do so and that the faithof Kossuth is innately superior to other faiths, especially those of the otherelemental lords and particularly to that of Istishia. (The Istishian and Kos-suthian churches hate one another.) Fire and purity are one and the same;the smoke produced by fire is created by the element of air in its jealousy andthrough the impurities of the material being cleansed by the flames. The dri-ving force in the Kossuthan church is ambition, and the reward of successfulambition is power. Kossuthan doctrine also speaks of the inevitability ofchange to a higher state being accompanied by difficulty and personal painof one type or another. �No pain, no gain� is most definitely a Kossuthansentiment.

Novices in the Kossuthan faith are charged as follows: �The eternal Kos-suth sends his pure fire to cleanse us all and temper our souls to a more purestate. Expect to be tested and strive to rise to the challenge, no matter whatdifficulty or pain it brings you. Follow the Promised above you, for they haveproven their worth and achieved a higher state which you too can find inKossuth�s service. Find the true vision, the final goal of your life, and pursueit utterly. Give yourself totally to the cause, and it will return eternal rewardsto you. Guide the teeming masses to the pure light that is Kossuth so that hemay reforge all life into its essential form, and complete order and harmonywill follow.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Tending to the fires of the church and makingsure that they never go out is a job for the Lightless. Other members of thechurch of Kossuth plan ceremonies (weddings, funerals, fire-walking), in-struct novices, tend to the day-to-day growth health and wealth of a templeand its clergy members, and pursue promotion, promotion, promotion.Being the leader of a temple means that a priest can finally do what she or hewants to, rather than what his or her superiors say. Most priests become ad-dicted to the desire for power this atmosphere breeds and grow into small,power-hungry tyrants prone to unscrupulous behavior and to overreachingtheir limits. Though this may not be the path Kossuth intended for his faith-ful, he speaks not a word against it. Most temples, led by power-hungry Eter-nal Flames, pursue goals of conquest, land acquisition, wealth, and rulership,making alliances with whoever is most expedient to their goals but con-forming to a strict and peculiar code within their own ranks.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The Oath of Firewalking is an in-troductory initiation that all priests of the faith must undergo in order to begranted first-level spells. As a priest rises in level, his faith continues to betested by these fire-walks.

The faithful must pray to Kossuth each day at sunrise and at highsun be-fore taking their meals, thanking him for the hidden fire of life energy thatburns in all things. Other than this daily ceremony, the church observes twopersonal ceremonies and each temple holds a yearly festival.

The Oath of Firewalking is a solemn oath taken when a novice becomesa priest. The strength of this promise is tested when it is first taken and againwhen a Kossuthan priest rises in rank by a walk over burning coals. Thecoals become hotter and the walk longer with each Firewalk. How Kossuthor his senior clergy members know what is in the hearts and minds of thosetaking the test is unknown, but Kossuthans with doubts or who are secretlyplotting against their temples (for instance) are often horribly burned by aFirewalk or die on the coals, while priests who are single-minded in their pu-rity of purpose and loyalty walk unscathed.

The Unity of Fire is the ceremony that Kossuthan specialty priests un-dergo that allows them, upon reaching a certain level of skill, to call forthfire elementals from the Elemental Plane of Fire. The ceremony is precededby a day of constant chanting and prayer, after which the elemental is sum-moned. When the elemental answers, it is given a gift of food prepared bythe hand of the ritual celebrant and a coffer of worked copper or other pre-cious metal full of coins, gems, and jewelry to carry back to Kossuth with thegood wishes of his faithful.

On the birthdate of the Eternal Flame of each temple, that temple holdsa festival. The Eternal Flame invites Kossuthan high and senior priests fromother temples, local and foreign dignitaries, and others whom she or he be-lieves the temple will benefit from by currying favor with. These people arepampered, given special gifts, and courted to become future allies of theEternal Flame and the temple.

Major Centers of Worship: The Kossuthan church frequently builds itsholy shrines near large sources of fire, such as volcanoes, or in hot, arid areas,such as deserts, but most often builds its large temples in cities and countriesof substantial size (the better for them to be used and later controlled). Thevillage of Lundeth in the Anauroch desert is a popular destination for thefaithful of Kossuth. Of course, the largest temple to Kossuth in Faerûn is theFlaming Brazier in Bezantur in Thay, home to the Red Wizards, who havemuch respect for the Tyrant Among Fire.

Affiliated Orders: The Kossuthan monastic orders are known as theDisciples of the Phoenix (good-aligned), the Brothers and Sisters of the PureFlame (neutral-aligned), and the Disciples of the Salamander (evil-aligned).They are very insular orders who maintain abbeys composed of monks ofonly one order and who have very rigid traditions of scholarship and martialprowess. Each order has peculiar taboos applying to the behavior of its mem-bers that date to the founding of the order.

The crusading military order of Kossuth is the Knights of the Fire Drake.This order�s members guard the holy sites of the faith, lead the faith�s nu-merous holy campaigns, and provide personal protection to Eternal Flames.

The church of Kossuth also has many affiliations with the Red Wizards ofThay, since many Red Wizards are Kossuthans. A number of zulkirs workwith the church and the church with the zulkirs in endless power playswithin Thay and in preparation for conquest beyond Thay�s borders.

Priestly Vestments: Those who follow the Tyrant Among Fire dress inlight robes of red, crimson, and orange. The use of armor while participatingin a ceremony in a shrine or temple is forbidden to all priests except those ofthe Order of the Fire Drake. The flame of Kossuth is worn as a holy symboland is usually formed of a ruddy gem (often flamedance) enchanted to glowwith an inner fire that is set into jewelry. Embroidery depicting flames ofvarious hues is a popular decoration to ceremonial robes, and the decora-tions grow more elaborate and expensive with increases in a Kossuthanpriest�s rank.

Adventuring Garb: Reds and crimsons are the favored colors of theBraziers, though they wear whatever clothing is appropriate in style to theircurrent location. Priests are allowed to wear up to chain mail and shield inthe field, although magical protections are preferred. Most Kossuthans areextremely fond of magical items that do loud, flashy, sudden, and brutaldamage, and display them prominently in an offensive posture at the dropof a hat.

Specialty Priests (Firewalkers)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:

Constitution 12, Wisdom 12Constitution, WisdomLN, N, LEAll bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsAll armor types up to and including chain mail andshieldAll, Elemental fire, combat, healing, summoning, sunMAJOR SPHERES:

MINOR SPHERES: Divination, elemental air, elemental earth, protection,war

items with water-based or underwater effects (helm of un-derwater action, cloak of the manta ray, etc.)

REQ. PROFS. Fire-buildingBONUS PROFS. Survival (pick one from: woodland, desert, steppe,

mountain, or tropical)� Gold elves, moon elves, half-elves of either gold elf or moon elf descent.

fire giants, and neutral or evil gnomes (rock gnomes) may be firewalkers,although elf society looks with disdain upon such a career for an elf or ahalf-elf and gnome society regards gnome firewalkers with suspicion.

MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, except forbidden from using magical

� Firewalkers may cast wizard spells from the elemental fire school in addi-tion to priest spells. These spells are cast as if the firewalker were a mageof the same level. For example, a 3rd-level firewalker casts wizard spellsas a 3rd-level mage. Firewalkers pray for their wizard spells instead ofstudying to memorize them, and chosen wizard spells replace priest spellspotentially available for use that day. (In other words, the wizard spell oc-cupies a priest spell slot.) Firewalkers gain access to 8th-level wizardspells at 16th level and 9th-level wizard spells at 18th level. A firewalkermust have a Wisdom of 18 or higher and an Intelligence of 16 to gain ac-cess to the 8th level spells, and a Wisdom of 18 or higher and an Intelli-gence of 18 to gain access to the 9th-level spells. If a firewalker is able togain high-level wizard spells, every 8th-level spell prayed for occupies a6th-level priest spell slot and every 9th-level spell prayed for occupies a7th-level priest spell slot. Firewalkers are always able to read elementalfire spells on scrolls or in wizard spellbooks as if they knew read magic (butstudying spells from a spellbook is useless to them). No more than three-quarters of a firewalker�s total number of spells available (round down)can be taken as wizard spells.

� All firewalkers gain a +2 bonus to saving throws vs. the harmful effects offire-and heat-related spells and fiery breath weapons.

� At 3rd level, firewalkers are immune to harmful effects from brief con-tact (less than five rounds) with nonmagical fire.

� At 3rd level, firewalkers gain the ability to cast burning hands (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once a day.

� At 5th level, firewalkers can summon one 8-HD fire elemental once aday. This elemental remains under the control of the firewalker for onehour and cannot be taken control of by another creature. If the sum-moner is killed or struck unconscious, the summoned elemental goes ona rampage, attacking everyone in sight except its summoner until itsone-hour time limit upon the Prime Material has elapsed. It is importantto note that the elemental summoned is not a servant of the firewalker,but rather is looked upon as an agent of Kossuth that is to be respected.The ability to summon an elemental is granted once each day when fire-walkers receive their normal complement of spells.

� At 7th level, the glory of Kossuth partially shields firewalkers from theharmful effects of magical fire and flaming breath weapons. All damage iscomputed with a -1 on the roll of each die.

� At 7th level, firewalkers gain the ability to cast fireball (as the 3rd-levelwizard spell) once a day.

� At 9th level, firewalkers gain the ability to cast fire charm (as the 4th-level wizard spell) once a day.

� At 9th level, firewalkers can summon one 12-HD fire elemental once atenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD fire el-emental.

� At 13th level, firewalkers can summon one 16-HD fire elemental once atenday. All the same conditions apply as for summoning an 8-HD fire el-emental.

� At 15th level, firewalkers can move through the Elemental Plane of Firewithout need for food, water, or air.

� Firewalkers who work together can summon an elemental of greater HitDice than they would otherwise be able to do alone. For example, a 5th-and 9th-level priest could summon a 16-HD elemental. As long as bothsummoners remain alive, the elemental remains under their control forone full hour. If one of the summoners is killed or struck unconscious, thesummoned elemental goes on a rampage, attacking everyone in sightuntil its one-hour time limit upon the Prime Material has elapsed. Itthen returns to the Elemental Plane of Fire. The participants in such acombined summoning attempt must abide by time restrictions for furtherelemental summoning apportioned by their levels. In the above case, the5th-level priest would have summoned his 8-HD elemental for the dayand the 9th-level priest would have summoned her 12-HD elemental forthe tenday.

FOES:

SYMBOL:WOR. ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN

Kossuthan Spells

1st LevelBanish Flame (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental FireRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: InstantaneousCasting Time:Area of Effect:

4A cube 10 square feet on a side/level with a maximumsize of 90 square feet on a side

Saving Throw: NoneThis spell instantly snuffs all flames of a nonmagical nature within the areaof effect. Burning items are not destroyed and may be relit if another sourceof fire is applied to them. Burning items within the area of effect are snuffedeven if they are in any sort of normal container that would protect themfrom wind or water. Magical flames of a continuous nature are extinguishedfor one round and then relight. Flaming breath weapons that enter the areaof effect during the same round as the spell is cast have their damage reducedby 1 point per level of the spellcaster. Light, continual light, and other similarspells are unaffected by banish flame.

Lathander(Morninglord)Greater Power of Elysium, NGPORTFOLIO: Spring, dawn, birth, renewal, creativity, youth, vitality,

self-perfection, athleticsALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Eronia/MorninglorySUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Chauntea, Gond, Silvanus, Tymora, Lurue the Unicorn,

Tyr, Torm, Ilmater, Sune, Lliira, Selune, Oghma, Milil,Deneir, Mielikki, EldathCyric, Talos, Shar, Moander (now dead), Bane (nowdead), Bhaal (now dead), Myrkul (now dead), Ibrandul(now dead)A disk of rosy pink hue

A powerful, exuberant god, Lathander (Lah-THAN-der) is known as the Commander of (Creativity andthe Morninglord. When Lathander is depicted, he ismost often shown in a form similar to his avatar (seebelow) or as a mist of glowing, rose-colored swirlswith two golden eyes at the center. As the god of be-ginnings, Lathander traditionally receives prayerfrom many inhabitants of Faerûn at the start of ajourney or endeavor. Lathander�s name is invoked to

seal alliances and start new ventures or companies. As a result, the god is verypopular among the merchant classes. Though depicted as young, Lathander�snoble bearing and demeanor serve him well among the nobility, who alsofavor his worship in many places. Because he encourages his clergy to strikeout and start new shrines and temples all over Faerûn, Lathander�s broad-based popularity is rounded out by the many peasant folk aided by his clergy.

Lathander has a reputation for being sometimes overly enthusiastic,slightly vain, and given to excesses, all flaws very common among theyoung. He is also eternally optimistic and doggedly perseverant. His alliancewith Chauntea serves them both well, since his interests in birth, nurture,and vibrant life dovetail well with her portfolio. The churches of Chaunteaand Lathander have only grown closer since the Time of Troubles, and ru-mors hold that Lathander has been courting the favor of the Earthmotherromantically as well as politically.

Lathander's Avatar (Fighter 36, Cleric 25)

Lathander appears as a golden-skinned athletic male of exceeding beautywho has just fully entered early manhood. He wears noble robes constructedin the colors of the dawn, carries himself proudly, and dresses in the finestgolden plate armor if attending to matters that might turn violent. He hasaccess to all the priestly spheres of magic. Spells he casts from the sun spherehave triple normal effect.

AC -5; MV 15; HP 234; THAC0 -10; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d6+15 or +18 (footman�s mace +3/+6, +9 STR, +2 spec. bonus in footman�smace)

MR 80%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 21, DEX 20, CON 24, INT 22, WIS 18, CHA 25Spells P: 11/11/10/10/9/8/4Saves PPDM2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: In battle, Lathander bears Dawnspeaker, a footman’smace +3. In his hands, Dawnspeaker automatically destroys all undead crea-tures who are affected by sunlight and does +6 damage to other evil beings.In the hands of another, it works as a mace of disruption +3. On rare occa-sions. Lathander has been known to loan Dawnspeaker to those people orquests he deems worthy. When the need for its presence is over, it teleportsto him. Whenever he wishes, Lathander can create light equalto sunlightover an area 10 miles in diameter for up to an hour, whereupon he cannot dothis again until two hours have passed. Lathandcr also automatically dispelsall magical darkness that he touches in any way. He can also dispel all magi-cal darkness within 120 yards with a thought. Because of his dominion overthe dawn, light- heat-, and fire-based attacks cannot harm him. Because ofhis alliance with Chauntea, no plant, sentient plant, or plant-based attackcan harm him either.

Other ManifestationsLathander manifests his power as an intense rosy radiance surrounding thebodies of those he favors. Lathander’s radiance also appears around objectsto indicate special qualities about them and at confusing or dangerous junc-tures to indicate a safe or preferred path. This radiance causes those people itsurrounds to be healed of all wounds, purged of any diseases, poisons, foreignobjects, afflictions (including lycanthropy, feeblemindedness, insanity, andblindness), magical or psionic compulsions, fear, and curses. The radiancealso telekineses people for short distances to get them out of harm’s way.(They may be lifted out of a trap or out of the reach of enemies.)

The faithful of Lathander who are surrounded by the radiancealso re-ceive a brief message of some type from Lathander to guide them. Othersmay receive similar impressions if Lathander desires. If the radiance appearsaround a corpse of one of the faith, resurrection survival is automaticallysuccessful while the radiance is present.

Finally, Lathander sometimes uses robins, sunpeacocks (animals he fa-vors for their plumage), sunpeacock feathers, butterflies, and aster blossomsas signs of his presence or favor.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusadersCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LNTURN UNDEAD C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Cru: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and crusaders of Lathander receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Wealthy and popular, the church of Lathander has opulent templesthroughout the North, some of which push back the borders of good taste, aswell as less audacious and more serviceable structures in most towns andcities and dotting all of Faerûn. The main room of a temple faces east and isopen to the horizon, at least in part, so that the faithful can see the dawn.The high priest or priestess of a shrine or temple is often called a prior or anabbess, although titles vary throughout the church.

Specialty priests of Lathander call themselves morninglords. Clerics ofLathander call both themselves and their specialty priest and crusaderbrethren dawn priests, ignoring any difference. About 35% of the organizedpriesthood are specialty priests; the remainder are clerics or crusaders. Alarger number of the adventuringpriests who serve the Morninglord are spe-cialty priests

The Lathanderian religion has no overarching hierarchy from church tochurch and no central authority. When issues of doctrine or policy come upthat must he decided upon, a conference is called at the church who initiallypresented the problem for consideration, and the issue is resolved. Regard-less of rank or experience level, each Lathanderite priest is considered themaster of the temple, shrine, or parish she or he is responsible for no matterthe number of priests staffing the facility under him or her.

Novices in the Lathanderian faith are called the Awakened, and theygain the title of Dawnbringer upon becoming full priests. In ascending orderof rank, the titles in general use by the Dawnbringers are: Dawngreeter,Dawnlord (the church doe:, not use feminine form of titles often), HighDawnlord, Dawnmaster, Morninglord, High Morninglord, Mornmaster,High Mornmaster, and Sunrise Lord.

Dogma: The charge given to most novice postulants to the faith of Lath-ander is: “Strive always to aid, to foster new hope, new ideas, and new pros-perity for all humankind and its allies. Perfect thyself, and guard ever against

pride, for it is a sacred duty to foster new growth, nurture growing things,and work for rebirth and renewal. Be fertile in mind and body. Consider al-ways the consequences of thine actions so that the least effort may bring thegreatest and best reward. Wherever you go, sow seeds of plants, tend thegrowing things you find, and plant seeds of hope, new ideas, and plans for arosy future in the minds of all. Whenever possible, see each dawn.”

Lathander’s dogma is filled with stories of optimism and perseverance. Itis important to feel good about an upcoming event or else it will naturally goawry through negative thinking. Favorite sayings of Lathander include:“From death, life,” “There is always another morning,” and “In the dawn,beauty reigns, and the way is clearer.” Far more importance is placed on act-ing in the service of Lathander by helping, encouraging, and aiding than instrict adherence to rituals, rules, and the dictates of superior clergy. Thispractical philosophy is shared both by Lathander and his senior clergy.

Death is considered a reward for the clergy, since they are “going to Lath-ander” in the afterlife. Most clergy are not raised unless they are needed tocomplete a task.

Day-to-Day Activities: Lathanderites seek to build anew, encouragethe rebirth of barren areas and more productive growth in cultivated lands,drive out evil, and either restore civilization to heights it once had or lead itto new dizzying heights of interracial harmony, cooperation, and pursuit ofthe arts and progress. To do this, they battle monsters to nurture civilization;they plant seeds and new seedlings, they encourage and aid adventurers,travelers, traders, and pilgrims as the harbingers of culture; and they recoverlost magical items, pieces of literature, and works of art. Lathanderites study,restore, and attempt to duplicate, emulate, or expand upon these recovereditems and works when possible.

Temples and shrines also sponsor athletic events and competitions wherepeople of all classes and races can strive together in nonhostile competitionin wrestling, distance throwing, target archery, running, jumping, horsebackriding, or any of a number of other noninjurious sports. Other competitionssponsored by Lathanderian churches are for honors in the literary and finearts. Such competitions are usually for a prize, which may be money, a spe-cial item or piece of art, or even a work written about the victor by a famouspoet or artist. Winning a competition sponsored by the Lathanderites bringsgreat status in certain circles.

Temples and shrines of Lathander provide aid to adventurers and com-munities in their area as long as such aid is returned in good faith. Priests ofLathander try tirelessly to encourage those of good alignments to the morededicated worship of the Morninglord if they are not already Lathanderites,but they do not insist on conversions or withhold aid if they are refused.

Lathanderites are expected to make regular offerings of ideas, inventions,coins, discovered artifacts, or food to Lathanderian temples and shrines.Much more valuable offerings such as magical items or quantities of gold aredemanded of nonbelievers in return for special services like rescue missionsor raising from the dead.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: As may be surmised, most cere-monies of Lathander are held at dawn. Actions taken and contracts agreedto at dawn are considered blessed by the god. Marriages held at Lathander-ian temples or shrines at dawn are considered especially blessed and so dawnis when the church most often holds such services, even if they are inconve-nient for visiting guests. Funerals consist of a solemn, candlelit ceremonycalled the Going Down. This ceremony is followed by a wake that lasts untildawn prayers. Funerals are not held for those who are to be raised.

The most important ceremonies of worship are the daily prayers to Lath-ander at dawn, often held outdoors or where the dawn can be seen. This rit-ual is followed in importance by the twilight devotions. Some temples andshrines also add to these two daily ceremonies an optional prayer and songto Lathander at highsun. To these daily devotions are added special prayerssaid when offerings are presented at the altar and when priests call on Lath-ander for guidance or aid. These ceremonies are all joyful, but dignified, andusually involve prayer, song, and ritual drinking of well water touched by thedawn. On special occasions, on Midsummer morning, and on the morningsof the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, priests of Lathander perform theSong of Dawn, praising, Lathander with a blend of vocal harmonies andcounterharmonies of beautiful complexity.

Major Centers of Worship: The Spires of the Morning in Waterdeep,headed by High Radiance Ghentilara, is the largest and probably most opu-lent of Lathander’s temples. The Tower of the Morning in Telpir, run byHigh Radiance Durneth Seafarer, is the second most prominent of histemples, though much simpler in design than the Spires of the Morning.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Lathander has a knightly order of pal-adins, crusaders, and fighters known as the Order of the Aster. Members ofthis order protect temples and shrines, serve to lead large military groups

levied as needed to serve the church, and roam the land seeking to do goodin Lathander�s name and promote his worship. Individual temples andshrines of Lathander do not usually maintain standing military forces ofsubstantial size due to their cost, although they often retain warriors andmembers of the Order of the Aster to guard their establishments in num-bers that each temple decides are appropriate and affordable.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Lathander dress in bright long-sleevedrobes of yellow, red, and pink. These are often called �sun robes.� Thosepriests with their own temples have their robes trimmed with ornatelycrafted gold ribbons. A sunburst headpiece, worn toward the back of thehead to emulate a rising sun or radiant sunpeacock, completes the ceremo-nial garb. The ritual robes used at many rural shrines are simple cassockswith a color scheme by rank. Novices and postulants wear brown; adeptsand underpriests wear russet and crimson. Senior priests wear scarlet, andsubpriors and those of higher rank wear rose-red. The leader of the templeor shrine wears white. Holy symbols of Lathander are often made of painted

This spell causes the affected being (who may be the caster) to glow with asoft, faint, rosy radiance. Until the spell expires or is dispelled, the spell re-cipient moves and functions with the same freedom a ring of free actiongrants and is temporarily released from any negative modifiers or activityrestrictions due to naturally or magically induced pain, nausea, fear, orvenom effects. (The effects of venom are suspended by the spell, but notnegated or lessened in any way.)

2nd LevelRosetouch (Alteration)Sphere: ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: Object touchedSaving Throw: NoneThis spell causes the caster�s hands to glow with a bright rose-red radiance.At any time after the spell is cast until the priest casts another spell, losesconsciousness, goes to sleep, or dies, the caster can choose to mend anyone item. The item cannot be larger in volume than the caster�s body.

wood, cut from rose quartz or similar minerals, or enchanted to radiate adim, pink glow.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring clerics usually wear more utilitariangarb, but prefer reds and yellows, to the point of tinting their armor thoseshades. Most priests of Lathander favor chain mail, and often the only ob-vious mark of Lathander they bear is a rose-red circle on their shields andhelm brows.

Specialty Priests (Morninglords)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 14, Charisma 12PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaA L I G N M E N T : N GWEAPONS: Same as clericsARMOR: All armor types up to and including plate mail and

shield

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At 3rd level, morninglords are able to cast faerie fire (as the 1st-levelpriest spell) once per day.

� At 5th level, morninglords are able to cast sunrise (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell) once a day.At 7th level, morninglords are able to cast boon of Lathander (as the 4th-level priest spell) once a day.At 9th level, morninglords are able to cast false dawn (as the 6th-levelpriest spell) once a day.Morninglords gain a +2 base bonus when using the appraising, artisticability, carpentry, cooking, juggling, leatherworking, musical instru-ment, or pottery nonweapon proficiencies. Additional nonweapon pro-ficiency slots devoted to these proficiencies increase the proficiencyscore normally.

� Morninglords convey a +10% bonus to the resurrection survival checkof any being upon which they cast raise dead or resurrection. (The resur-rection survival score cannot, however, exceed 99%.)

Morninglords are able to create light (as the 1st-level priest spell) threetimes a day.

MAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, charm, creation, elemental, healing, necro-mantic (restorative forms only of reversible spells),plant, thought, sun, wards, weather

MINOR SPHERES: Combat, divination, guardian, timeMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: NoneBONUS PROFS: Pick two: appraising, artistic ability, carpentry, cooking,

juggling, leatherworking, musical instrument, and potteryMorninglords turn undead creatures at four levels higher than theirlisted level if the undead is affected by direct sunlight. Intelligent un-dead such as vampires know about Lathanderian specialty priests and ei-ther avoid direct conflict or act to remove the threat they pose asquickly as possible.

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Lathanderian Spells1st LevelRosemantle (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 2 + 1d4 roundsCasting Time: 4Area of Effect: One living creatureSaving Throw: None

The item must be touched by the caster, who must deliberately chooseto affect it. The object may have been once living or even be presently liv-ing. When used on a living being, rosetouch closes gaping wounds�evenover a foreign object�and closes off veins and arteries to prevent furtherblood loss, but cannot restore lost hit points, life force, or functioning or-gans, nor knit together severed limbs.

As the item is mended, the rosy glow pulses brightly, surrounds theitem, and then fades. At the end of the round in which the rosetouch is be-stowed, the item is whole.

This spell is often used to mend broken weapons or tools. Although itcannot restore the dweomer of a broken or expended magical weapon, itsphysical repair work is permanent and cannot be dispelled. A weapon thathas been rosetouched gains no attack or damage bonuses, but counts as amagical weapon for purposes of what can be hit by it for 1 round per levelof the caster of this spell.

3rd LevelSunrise (Evocation, Alteration)Sphere: SunRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 + 1d4 rounds or specialCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 5-foot-sphere centered on one beingSaving Throw: SpecialWith this spell, the caster evokes a dazzling sphere of light equal to naturalsunlight around himself or a touched being or item. All beings in contactwith the sphere lose the use of infravision for 2d4 rounds, which is halvedif a saving throw vs. spell is successful.

Vampires and other undead, fungoid creatures, and subterranean fungiin contact with the sphere suffer 4d6 points of damage, which is halved ifa saving throw vs. spell is successful. Upon their first contact (only) withthe dazzling radiance, such creatures are affected as if by a confusion spellon the round following contact. Essentially, on first contact with the radi-ance, these creatures may continue an attack or fighting actions that bringthem into the light, but on the next round they hesitate and are unable toattack or take any deliberate action.

Creatures harmed by sunlight are affected by the radiance as if theywere caught in actual sunlight. Undead vulnerable to sunlight receive asaving throw vs. spell to avoid destruction.

The caster of this spell can choose to have it delay and not take effectuntil a word of activation that was whispered during casting is spokenagain. The spell effect occurs at any later time when the word is spokenunless the touched being dies first or is affected by a dispel magic. In addi-tion, if the delayed form of the spell is cast on the caster, it may even be ac-tivated by silent force of will alone; no word need be spoken. The spell isnot affected by other spellcasting or magical activity on the part of thecaster, but its delayed effect cannot be unleashed in the same round as thecaster activates a magical item or casts another spell.

The material components of the spell are an aster seed and a piece ofsunstone (aventurine).

4th LevelBoon of Lathander (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: CombatRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 6 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneOn the two rounds following the round this spell is cast in, the spell re-cipient receives bonuses of +1 on attack rolls and +1 on all saving throwsand is allowed one extra attack per round. The spell recipient glows witha rose-red radiance during this time of augmented ability. This radiance issimilar to faerie fire in appearance, but it does not carry with it the bene-fits that opponents would gain when attacking a creature outlined infaerie fire.

5th LevelShield of Lathander (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: GuardianRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 roundCasting Tune: 8Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneIf the recipient of this spell is unwitting or unwilling and engaged in com-bat, a successful attack roll is necessary to touch that being. The spell’s re-cipient must be touched within three rounds of the spell being cast or thespell is wasted and lost.

Shield of Lathander protects a single touched creature from all damagedue to purely physical means on the round after it is touched. The pro-tected being takes full normal damage from spells and magical item dis-charges, but the physical component of an enchanted weapon’s attack isnegated. For instance, a long sword +2 striking a protected recipient of thisspell would inflict only 2 points of damage (due to its magical bonus). En-chanted weapons lacking pluses cause only 1 point of damage.

6th LevelFalse Dawn (Evocation)Sphere SunRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: 30-foot-radius sphereSaving Throw: NoneFalse dawn calls into existence a bright reddish light, as if a sunrise were oc-curring, within the area of effect. This light is bright enough to read by, dis-pels magical darkness, and persists for the spell duration despite any at-tempts to dispel it or to establish magical darkness in the area.

All undead creatures within a false dawn suffer 6d4 points of damage.Undead creatures are not allowed saving throws against this damage, and ifit destroys them, their remains instantly crumble and can never again beanimated to undeath. Affected undead also act confused (similar to the ef-fects of a confusion spell) on the round after the false dawn appears. Theseconfused undead beings cannot move, launch attacks, or use specific magi-cal powers of their own volition.

All creatures using infravision have it foiled during the false dawn andfor 1d4 rounds after it ends or they leave its area.

The caster cannot choose to exempt any creatures within the area of ef-fect from these effects. The spherical area of effect extends below thecaster’s ground level and into the air above him or her.

This spell consumes a clear-, red- or yellow-hued gemstone or gemstonesof not less than 1,000 gp total value that fades away to nothingness in thecaster’s hand.

7th LevelGreater Shield of Lathander (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: GuardianRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 roundCasting Tune: 1 round

Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneIf the recipient of this spell is unwitting or unwilling and engaged in combat,a successful attack roll is necessary to touch that being. The spell’s recipientmust be touched within three rounds of the spell being cast or the spell iswasted and lost.

Greater shield of Luthander protects a single touched creature from all dam-age—whether magical, physical, or psionic—on the round after it is touched.The greater shield also suspends the functioning of any magical geas, quest, orother compulsions on the touched being including psionic controls and at-tacks. Note that protected beings in or placed in damage-taking situationsduring the round of protection (such as pinned under water, leaping off cliffs,or buried under rockslides or collapsing buildings) are not rendered immuneto damage. On the round after the spell expires, they suffer the full normaldamage that the situation dictates. Beings can, however, use the round ofgrace given them by this spell to activate healing or escaping magics.

Leira (Dead)(Lady of the Mists. Mother of Illusionists,the Guardian of Liars, the Mistshadow)Lesser Power of Limbo, CNPORTFOLIO: Deception, illusionALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Formerly: Limbo/The Courts of Illusion; currently adrift

in the Astral Plane

SUPERIOR:ALLIES:FOES:SYMBOL:

NoneMask (but betrayed by him), AzuthNoneA triangular plaque of cloudy, swirling gray mists, pointdownward

WOR. ALIGN.: A n yLeira (LAIR-uh), the Lady of the Mists, was the god-dess of deception and illusion and the patroness of il-lusionists and liars. Few people other than illusion-ists saw profit in misunderstanding and deception, soshe had few lay worshipers, though many casual wor-shipers paid her homage to ward her off or placateher before important decisions and judgments weremade. Her true appearance was never known, and

she was never depicted in (uncensored) religious art. Swirling gray mists—sometimes in a vaguely humanoid form—were always shown to representher, and her horned altars framed no image above them. She is credited withinventing the language of Ruathlek, the written tongue of illusionary magic.

Despite a fog of counterclaims and declarations, Leira perished shortlyafter the Time of Troubles at the hands of Cyric and Mask (in the form ofGodsbane). Mask betrayed her to Cyric, and the goddess’s portfolio was sub-sumed by Cyric. Churches of Leira still operate, and their priests receivespells, but these are granted by Cyric in the guise of Leira, although theLeiran either do not know (most of them) or do not care.

Leira was an enigma since she covered everything she did and said withlayers of illusion and falsehood. She was not an actively malicious power,however, and it is known that those few who managed to visit her realm inLimbo uninvited were normally trapped or restrained rather than simplybeing atomized, as is the practice of most evil or impatient powers. She wasapparently content with her small following and had no great and gloriousplans or ambitions. On a personal level, she seems to have been a very privatepower, and the only passing friendship she maintained was with Mask—whotreacherously betrayed her to her death at the hands of power-hungry Cyric.She had a formal, cooperative relationship with Azuth, patron of spellcasters,and was disliked by Tyr, who pursues justice through truth.

Leira�s Avatar(Illusionist 30, Mage 22, Cleric 16, Thief 10)The true appearance of Leira is unknown. Most senior clergy members andholy writings say she seldom looked the same way twice, but a recurring fig-ure in accounts of her down the ages was that of a very tall, very thin womanwith long smoke-hued hair and robes that exuded mists. Her eyes were saidto be black, glistening, and very large—seeming to bore through any mortaland “see all” (or at least make mortals feel that she did). Leira was always adangerous deity to cross, but her deceptions were essentially capricious, notworks of malice or deliberate attempts to conceal evil. She liked to tantalize,appearing to mortals as beings who attracted them, and because of this often

appeared as a comely, beckoning female or heroic-looking, handsome male.Leira seemed to prefer a feminine appearance whenever convenient for herpurposes. Leira could draw spells from any sphere and from the schools of il-lusion, alteration, lesser and greater divination, enchantment/charm, andconjuration/summoning. She preferred using illusions, of course, and could

Pompous titles are often followed by misleading ones, and this tenday�s highpontiff is next tenday�s acolyte. This wild, constantly changing array ofgrandiose, silly, frivolous, and obviously spurious titles ranges from SupremeHigh Lord of the Heights and Depths to Most Holy Guttersweeper. Withinthe faith, specialty priests are known as mistcallers to distinguish their capa-bilities from those of clerics and illusionists, but they sport the same diverseand ever-changing titles as others of their kind when asked publicly whattheir duties and positions are.

Compulsive liars and workers of illusions, both magical and otherwise,venerate the Lady, as do many wise thieves, but most other folk only makeofferings to placate her. They otherwise mistrust her church entirely�a pru-dent judgment. The only time one can be sure that a priest of Leira is tellingthe truth is any words spoken between two utterances of the phrase �By theMistshadow,� although a sure sign that she trusts someone is that she em-ploys huge, impossible lies without a shred of plausibility rather than the sin-ister misleading half-truths that the folk of the Faith That is Not What itSeems usually deal in. (The Mistshadow is one of Leira�s secret names,known only to her faithful.)

Devout Leirans are unconcerned that the goddess may be dead, sincethat death may be an illusion, the original Leira may be an illusion, or Cyric,slyly rumored to have replaced Leira, may be an illusion. Official statementsby the church say there is no trouble and Leira emerged from the Godswarmore powerful than before. However, given the fact that most official state-ments are lies, most people believe her dead, though large numbers of herfaithful (mainly those of good and neutral alignment) steadfastly are holdingto the belief that she is not. She has not been definitely seen in avatar formsince the Godswar, but then even her church could not definitely say shehad ever been seen before the Time of Troubles, since every form that has ap-peared claiming to be an avatar of Leira has been different. She certainly hasnot failed in granting the spells or abilities her priests are accustomed to re-ceiving to them.

Temples of Leira are few and far between. Most are small, partially openstructures of classical classical construction with large columns and porticos and awide inner sanctum where services are held before low, flat, rectangular al-tars with horns or imitation horns of metal curving upward from their cor-ners. No images or statues of Leira grace the sanctuary anywhere. Leira�stemples are constantly filled with a light white mist that normally remains atankle height but can rise to fill the room and thicken to obscure vision if thehigh priest or priestess of the temple desires.

Dogma: Leirans believe that the Lady can be anything, anywhere, that isnot what it seems. They are taught to make folk everywhere doubt whatthey believe and see in order to restore Holy Mystery to the world. Leiransare to give as well as take, to raise hope as well as dashing hopes. Leiransmust never tell the truth when less can do and never use a half-truth when alie would serve better. They should speak truth whenever possible only tofellow worshipers of Leira.

Novices in the faith are charged by the whispering mists of the goddessthat: �The Lady is never quite what you think she is. Truth is a worthlessthing to know and worth even less to speak aloud. Never speak truth whenfalsehood will suffice. Cherish and further illusions and rumors, for distor-tion and legend are what make folk happy and life alluring. Hiding a thinggives it value by the very act of cloaking.�

not use true seeing.

AC -2; MV 15, Fl 24; HP 164; THAC0 11; #AT 1Dmg 1d10MR 70%; SZ L (9 feet)STR 14, DEX 24, CON 21, INT 24, WIS 18, CHA 21Spells P: 9/9/8/7/4/3/1, W: 8/8/8/8/8/8/8/7/7*Saves PPDM 4, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

*Numbers assume one extra illusion spell per spell level.

Special Att/Def: Leira was never known to attack hand-to-hand, al-though she certainly could if she so desired. Leira cast all illusion/phantasmspells as if she were double her level. She automatically, unconsciously, andconstantly negated all immunity to illusions and other spells caused by highIntelligence or Wisdom ability scores within a 360-foot-radius of her (eventhe immunities of other deities, although they still received their magic re-sistance and any applicable saving throws). In addition to casting two spellsin a round if she made no physical attacks, she had the ability to cast any il-lusion/phantasm spell; she could use this ability to continue to cast an illu-sion/phantasm spell once a round even after she ran out of her normal num-ber of spells (given above). The illusions she cast were always perfect, as ifshe had studied her subjects all her life (which she had).

Leira was never fooled by any illusion or any sort of magic that deceivedthe senses, masked one form with another, or attempted to render somethingundetectable (unseeable, unhearable, etc.) or invisible. She could shapechange into any form for as long as she wished and use both the complete ca-pabilities of that shape and her own abilities (without being affected by thenatural tendencies of the form she took in alignment, for instance). Shecould fly in any form at MV 24, and she could also assume the form of acloud of mist that flew or drifted as she wished at up to MV 24.

Leira was totally immune to all illusion/phantasms, even those created byother deities. She was also immune to all charm and howl effects of any sort. Allattacks against her were made as if she were wearing a cloak of displacement.

Other ManifestationsLeira usually manifested as gray, smokelike mists, often accompanied by twopiercing black eyes or simply the sensation of being intensely watched, andby a chiming, unearthly, apparently random music that came out of nowhereand seemed unconcerned with anything (such as forming a tune, or even arhythm). In mists or smoke, Leira could be heard as a disembodied voice,sometimes perceived only by those who worship her and not by other beingswho were present.

Leira also acted through the appearance or presence of marids, dopple-gangers, mimics, will-o�-wisps, invisible stalkers, cloud dragons, mistdragons, displacer beasts, galeb duhr, blink dogs, and intelligent undeadcreatures who were former illusionists. More commonly she sent somethingthat superficially looked like something else, talking sheep, outrageously col-ored cats and dogs (pink, green, blue, orange, purple), talking or flying pigs,giant talking rabbits or ponies who were invisible to anyone but those theywere sent to help, giant lynxes, forget-me-nots, pyrites, sarbossas, irtioses,zioses, beljurils, tourmalines, talking owls, and eblis to show her favor and asa sign to inspire her faithful.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, illusionistsCLERGY�S ALIGN.: CG, LN, N, CN, CETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, I: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, I: NoAll clerics and specialty priests of Leira receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.The church of Leira has clerics, specialty priests, and illusionists in its orga-nization. Exact numbers of each kind of clergy and the total number-ofLeiran clergy members are unknown because members of the faith cheerfullylie about its tenets, organization, numbers, and powers. An extremely looseestimation places the ratio of clerics, specialty priests, and illusionists at20/45/35. Relations between the various members of the clergy are good,mainly because no one knows fully what is going on.

Leiran clergy members (of all kinds) are called whatever they choose tobe called, and official titles vary from day to day and from person to person.

Day-to-Day Activities: Clergy of Leira spread false rumors�and if theycan, create illusions�in return for fees. They are charged with the task ofmaking folk everywhere doubt truth by encouraging (and then revealing)false beliefs, setting up hoaxes, and the like. Leirans are masters of disguiseand rent or sell costumes and (for stiff fees) apply makeup for everyone whodesires it (usually folk in some trouble). They also aid others in deceptionsby acting as actors-for-hire, often pretending to be wives, husbands, collec-tion agents, brigands, paramours, escorts, thieves, or even clergy members ofrival faiths as they assist some less-than-honest person in working a deceiton others. When not bent on such dark purposes, most Leiran clergy mem-bers work on alternative personas or roles they can adopt �out of mask� towork swindles on others, enriching and entertaining themselves (though itis a tenet of the church that someone they rob must later be aided by Leiranhands to make up for the loss).

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Leirans lie face-down on theground and pray to the Lady every morning and on every moonlit night.They go walking whenever they encounter fogs or mists to chant praises toLeira and speak with the Lady (who is said to sometimes answer as an echo-ing whisper out of the surrounding mists). They also hold brief ceremonies ataltars of Leira (when assigned to a temple) on a daily basis to allow nonbe-lievers who wish to appease Leira�s caprices to make offerings and to hearand guide the prayers of lay worshipers. In all cases, formal worship of Leira

consists of kneeling prayers and standing hymns and chants made while fac-ing her horned altars whose upswept arms frame only empty air.

The most holy rituals of Leira are the Unmasking, and the Invocation.The Unmasking is performed as purification by novices entering the priest-hood, priests rising in rank, or priests doing penance for slighting their faith(telling the truth too often, for example). In this ritual, the bare-faced sup-plicant walks down ranks of priests holding tall lit candles between reflect-ing pools of water and mirrors. The Invocation is held when the Lady iscalled upon directly for guidance, and during this ceremony chanting priestsswing censers to make thick smoke so that She may appear in the heart of itsconcealment and speak to them.

Leirans gather for six Conclaves every year at different places and slightlydifferent times; word of where and when spreads quietly throughout thepriesthood, but it is not revealed to outsiders. It is believed that by holy writonly truth is spoken at such gatherings and that the clergy members use suchoccasions to share information, to allow members to transfer from temple totemple, and to permit church elders to vote on the most important missionsthe faith should undertake.

Major Centers of Worship: The most influential temple in thechaotic, unorganized, rank-ignoring priesthood of Leira is the Mistkeep inPresper, which is presided over by Illusionmaster Duldinbold Alarkyn.This holy house is marked by its Pillars of Smoke (a slang name for itamong Leirans is “the Pipepillars”), and it houses one of the largest andmost valuable collections of magical items in Faerûn—all hidden awayand guarded in various ingenious ways, of course. The Mistkeep’s templepriests use these things of power in careful, subtle ways to sway politicalevents in the lands around and in expeditions in search of yet more magi-cal items. They also make and sell masks and vestments to other Leirans,and the gruff, aging gnome illusionist (now priest) Duldinbold is rumoredto have been personally taught the ways of making enchanted tabards andmasks that can emit powerful battle magic by the Mother of illusionistsherself. Rumor also has it that the state religion of legendary Nimbral isthat of the Lady of the Mists.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Leira has no known affiliated knightlyorders, although on successive tendays it claims to have many (making upall sorts of grand names for them), to have none, and to control them all. Itis impossible to tell what or who the church of Leira may be allied withthrough their barrage of lies, and whether it has any actual (as opposed tomade-up) honorary orders is likewise impossible to discern.

Priestly Vestments: Leiran clergy members all dress alike: in long,cowled, bottom-fringed robes of russet to ochre, lined and streaked withgreen, tied with sashes of the same material, and worn with gloves and dis-tinctive smooth, silvered glass masks. These masks entirely cover the face,projecting out below the chin to allow normal breathing, and their wearerscan see normally (if dimly) through them. These silver masks reflect gaze at-tacks, and although their wearers may still gaze through them and so stillmay meet something’s gaze, they give their wearers a +3 bonus to their sav-ing throws againstgaze attacks (or effects. Vampires, who hate mirrors, seekto slay Leiran priests whenever possible.

Leiran silver masks are tinted: Red is worn in the morning, blue afterhighsun, rust at dusk, and gray after the full darkness of night comes. Themost holy rituals call for a mask of the same green hue as the robes.

All clergy are taught to make the silvered masks (a difficult task requiringmuch dexterity and patience), and they tend to have several sets (hidden inwell-padded traveling cases) in addition to their everyday set. A wealthyLeiran cleric will often hire a wizard to cast glassteel spells on his or her masksjust to be rid of worries about breakage.

A priest caught without a silver mask will wear a gauze headsack. Everyrobe has one sewn into the cowl and another in a concealed inner pocket tohe sure that a supply is always near at hand. Although it is no sin to gobarefaced, Leiran clergy members are usually paranoid about showing their

faces in public when their robes or residency make nonbelievers aware oftheir faith and profession: Many a priest of Leira has bathed or entertainedprivate company while stubbornly still wearing (only) his or her mask!

Adventuring Garb: When traveling, Leiran sometimes adopt alternateidentities and dress as these types of people would, but most often they weartheir ceremonial robes and silver mask. The robes are covered by russetcloaks with green gemstone-adorned clasps. These cloaks are cloaks of dis-placement and the “gemstones”are tinted glass shapes that can be slid asideto reveal a small hiding place in the locket-clasp where priests typically storegems, magical rings, or vials of sleep gas.This gas is a favorite weapon ofLeiran clergy. It fills a roughly 20-foot-cubic volume in about five rounds ifthe stopper is left off the vial, or it can be poured onto a cloth and applied toa victim’s nose and mouth. In either case, victims exposed to it must make a

successful saving throw vs. poison or fall asleep (as in a sleep spell) everyround they are exposed to it. It disperses or evaporates in 10 minutes afterfilling the cubic area of effect or being poured onto the cloth.

Specialty Priests (Mistcallers)REQUIREMENTS: Dexterity 11, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Intelligence, WisdomALIGNMENT: CN, CEWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: Any. Armor of any type, however, negates all spellcast-

ing ability and the use of spell-like abilities.MAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, charm, creation, divination, healing, protec-

tion, summoning, time, weatherMINOR SPHERES: Chaos, combat, elemental, guardian, necromanticMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, plus all items involving illusions and de-

ceptions usually restricted to wizards, including scrollswith illusion/phantasm spells

REQ. PROFS: DisguiseBONUS PROFS: Modern languages (pick one), reading/writing (Ruath-

lek), ventriloquisml Gnomes may be mistcallers, though the cultural peer pressure against

gnomes walking such a life path is very strong in their society.l Mistcallers, starting at 2nd level, may cast illusion/phantasm wizard

school spells in addition to priest spells. Mistcallers cast these as mages ofhalf their actual level (drop fractions). For example, a 3rd-level mist-caller casts illusion/phantasm school spells as a 1st-level mage and canonly gain those levels of illusion/phantasm school spells that are avail-able to a 1st-level mage.

Mistcallers pray for their illusion/phantasm school spells instead ofstudying to memorize them, and chosen illusion/phantasm school spellsreplace clerical spells potentially available for use that day. (In otherwords, the illusion/phantasm school spell occupies a priest spell slot.) Be-cause of this, mistcallers may never cast 8th- or 9th-level illusion/phan-tasm spells.

l Mistcallers may use certain types of wizard spells from scrolls withoutusing a read magic spell to comprehend them. Spells which are purely illu-sion/phantasm school spells may be used in this fashion. Any spell thatuses illusion/phantasm magic in conjunction with other magic schoolscannot be cast from a scroll because the mistcaller cannot read it. If ascroll contains illusion/phantasm spells along with those of other schools,then only the illusion/phantasm spells may be used by the mistcaller.

l Mistcallers gain a +2 bonus to saving throws vs. illusion/phantasm spellsand spell-like abilities.

l At 3rd level, mistcallers are able to cast impenetrable falsehood (as the2nd-level priest spell) once a day.

l At 3rd level, mistcallers are able to cast phantasmal force or audible glamer(as the 1st-level wizard spells) once a day.

l At 5th level, mistcallers are able to cast misdirection (as the 2nd-levelwizard spell) once per day. Mistcallers may cast another misdirection forevery additional five levels in experience they gain beyond 5th.

l At 7th level, mistcallers are able to cast shadow magic (as the 5th-levelwizard spell) once a day.

l At 10th level, mistcallers are able to cast demi-shadow magic (as the 6th-level wizard spell) and disbelief (as the 6th-level priest spell) once a day.

l At 13th level, mistcallers are able to cast mislead (as the 6th-level wizardspell) once per day.

l At 20th level, mistcallers are able to create a permanent illusion (as the6th-level wizard spell) three times a tenday.

l One spell is completely forbidden to both clerics of Leira and mist-callers — true seeing or devices that use true seeing. Any priest of Leira whouses this spell goes irrevocably insane (though the action of a deity mayreverse this state) There is no penalty for casting the reverse f this spell,false detection.

Leiran Spells2nd LevelImpenetrable Falsehood (Abjuration)Sphere: DivinationRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 12 hoursCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: None

This spell makes any untruth spoken by the caster or a touched spell recipi-ent being sound convincing and hides all untruths from a detect lie spell, sim-ilar magics, related spell-like abilities, and even the discernment of specialtypriests of Tyr. It also foils ESP and other mind-reading magics or psionic abil-ities that could reveal a lie, hiding true thoughts behind random rumina-tions on two or three topics mentally chosen by the caster as the spell is cast(for example, the possible whereabouts of a half-remembered stream thatmust have been somewhere hereabouts, how soon the next apple crop mightbe ready, and the name of a particular merchant met years ago in a tavern,and seen from afar down a crowded street just a tenday ago).

4th LevelMonstrous Illusion (Illusion/Phantasm, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components:Duration:

V, S1 round/level

Casting Time: 7Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: NoneThis spell transforms the air around the caster into the shape of any whollyphysical Faerûnian creature. It cannot create the shapes of creatures having adual-planar existence or a fundamental connection to another plane of exis-tence, such as most undead creatures. The monster form chosen must be of a

or a partic-creature that the caster has seen directly on some earlier occasion while it wasalive and awake, but cannot be a unique being such as the tarrasqueular human ruler. The form must also be large enough to encompass the caster.

The caster controls this monstrous illusion from within and can use all thenormal powers and abilities of the creature except�if applicable�flying.The illusory monster�s attacks do only half the damage the real monsterwould, but the illusion also cloaks and shields the caster, who suffers onlyhalf the normal damage from attacks made on him or her while within themonstrous illusion. This spell can be ended at any time at will.

5th LevelTriple Mask (Illusion/Phantasm, Necromancy)Sphere: Necromantic, ProtectionRange: 0Components:Duration:

V, S, M1 round/level

where the caster stood. These solid illusions have no intellect and cannotwield or cast magic, but otherwise look and act just like the caster, who con-

spell) attacks at the caster�s normal THAC0, employing their nonmagicalduplicates of whatever gear and weaponry the caster had on his or her per-son at the time the spell was cast. The images act independently and cantravel any distance apart from each other without affecting the operation ofthe triple mask. This spell is often used by casters who want to be present at adangerous meeting or journey but somehow remain safe.

trols them all. The images can carry things, speak, and even launch (non-

Casting Time: 8Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell transports the caster�s real body and gear to an extradimensionalspace and creates three identical, solid images of the caster on the spot

The caster must be in contact with/linked to one of the images at the be-ginning of a round and stay �in� that image until the end of the round; in themeantime, the other two images carry out any instructions they were givenat the end of the preceding round. When the round ends, the caster can in-stantly, silently, and untraceably switch to another image. At the same time,the caster can alter the orders for the other two images. No switch need bemade if the caster does not desire to, and the caster can see and hear (but notsmell, feel, or taste) through the eyes and ears of all three images at all times.

Images that are destroyed when the caster is not in them do the caster noharm. One image�s destruction does not end the spell or visibly affect theother two images�but if the image the caster is linked to is destroyed, thespell ends, all three images vanish instantly, the caster appears in the loca-tion of the destroyed image, and the caster suffers 1 point of damage for eachexperience level she or he currently possesses.

When this spell is cast, the caster must make a system shock survivalroll. If it fails, the caster falls unconscious but takes no other harm, and thespell is wasted without taking effect. When the spell ends normally, thecaster returns to the last position of any of the remaining images when thespell expired.

The material components of this spell are three peas.

Lliira(Our Lady of Joy, Joybringer, the Goddess of Joy,Mistress of the Revels)Lesser Power of Arborea, CGPORTFOLIO: Joy, happiness, dance, festivals, carefree celebration,

contentment, release, hospitality, freedom/liberty; fromWaukeen: trade, money, wealth

ALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Olympus/BrightwaterSUPERIOR: SuneALLIES: Sune, Milil, Waukeen (missing), Selûne, Sharess,

Deneir, Oghma, Lathander FOES: Bane (now dead), Bhaal (now dead), Loviatar, TalonaSYMBOL: Three six-pointed stars arranged in a triangle with their

points touching with the orange star upppermost, yellowon the left, and red on the rightAny, though evil worshipers are rareWOR. ALIGN.:

Lliira (LEER-ah, with a trill on the long �e� sound)is ever-changing, ever-moving, ever alive. She em-bodies happiness, freedom, and joyful movement.She is not an ambitious deity, nor does she like pre-tense, so she is rather uncomfortable with her newrole in the events surrounding the disappearance ofWaukeen.

For over 10 years now, Waukeen has been un-heard from in the Realms, and she has been publicly announced by herpriesthood to be destroyed or dead. Lliira promised Waukeen during theTime of Troubles to guard her portfolio and godly power until she returnedfor it (see the entry on Waukeen), but Lliira has not been able to find anytrace of Waukeen since she last saw her during the Godswar. In 1365 DR,she felt forced to take over Waukeen's disintegrating church to preservewhat she could for the return of her friend. She sent a prophet to the gatesof every temple to Waukeen to speak to the Waukeenar. He was to em-phasize Waukeen's uncertain status (that she could not be found in theRealms or her home plane and showed no sign of appearing in the near fu-ture) and Lliira�s regency (not appropriation of the position), but the Wau-keenar, already in a panic-stricken state after receiving no new spells foryears, immediately heard what they thought they were going to hear andrecorded that Waukeen was dead.

Lliira is rather uncomfortable with her new role as the shepherd of thebulk of the former flock of Waukeen. Though she is only holding Wau-keen�s portfolio as its regent, the increased power the Waukeenar are deliv-ering to her is a constant temptation, and the prospect of completely fold-ing the power of Waukeen into herself grows sweeter to Lliira each day.Still, she holds off doing so out of loyalty to her friend and to respect thepromise that she made.

Lliira�s allegiance is to Sune (who until recently was also served bySelûne), though her closest everyday ties are to Milil, and the two powersoften work together. Because of this close relationship, scholars have oftenbecome confused about her ultimate loyalty; although she is allied to Deneir,Milil, and Oghma, Oghma is not her superior. A nasty legend surfaced afterthe Time of Troubles that Lliira hunted down and killed Leira, the Lady ofthe Mists, since their names were similar. This is patently untrue.

Lliira's Avatar(Mystic 28, Mage 26, Spellsinger 24, Cleric 19, Bard 18)

Lliira initially appears as brightly whirling lights and smoke in midair. Out ofthis dances a young, sensuous, laughing, lady with pure blue eyes and longgold hair. (Sometimes her hair appears to be streaked with silver or with oddpastel colors of blue, pink, green, or lilac.) Moving on air, this 9-foot-tall,shapely, carefree human female dances uncaring of dignity, literally revelingin the joy of movement. She wears a tight-fitting body suit under a series ofgauzy robes that twirl and drape artfully as she moves, and she trails asparkling wake of winking lights as she dances. These small radiances flashto mark at least the last 60 feet of her movements (longer if she desires).

Lliira cannot abide violence and ill feeling, and a sword bared (save insolemn ceremony) is enough to drive her�or her favor�away. Normally, ifany sort of serious violence breaks out, she simply leaves. Lliira draws herspells from any sphere or school, but refuses to physically hurt people unlessleft no other option; however, she does not consider changing someoneinto another form (at least temporarily) or transporting them elsewhere tobe physically hurting them.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, mystics, spellsingers

NG, CG, CNCLERGY�S ALIGN.:TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Mys: No, Spell: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mys: No, Spell: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and mystics of Lliira receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Lliira attracts to her worship dancers of all sorts and fun-loving hedonists.She also receives offerings from lay worshipers and casual worshipers seekingher blessing for a particular party, revel, festival, or other gathering. Lliirans(priests and lay worshipers of Lliira) have a well-deserved reputation as festi-val animals, and more than one adventuring company has found an emptytill when it left the Lliiran priest in charge.

Both specialty priests and clerics of Lliira were called Joybringers until1365 DR, when the members of the clergy themselves began to be confusedby this practice. Now specialty priests of Lliira are known as joydancers todistinguish their functions from the clerics, mystics, and spellsingers of thechurch, and all members of the clergy may be addressed as joybringers. Joy-bringers tend be folk of whimsy, light spirits, and constant joking (but notpranks). They imitate and lampoon others all the time, try to make folkaround them laugh, and spend money like water to bring happiness toothers by bestowing gifts and throwing feasts. A typical Lliiran act is tooffer a tavernkeeper 2,000 pieces of gold or more in return for throwingopen the tavern for an evening to allow free food and drink for all. Escorts

AC -3; MV 15, Fl 15; HP 174; THAC0 2; #AT 1Dmg 1d10+7 (+7 STR)MR 65%; SZ L (9 feet)STR 19, DEX 24, CON 22, INT 21, WIS 17, CHA 22Spells P: 11/11/10/9/9/9/6, W: 6/6/6/6/6/5/5/5/5Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Lliira can unleash spells as she spins (up to the normaltotal of two per round if she makes no physical attacks) and also leave be-hind a third magic each round. This spell takes effect when a creature (orcreatures) of her choice enters the part of the twinkling wake the dancinggoddess leaves behind where she set the magic to take effect. She can spec-ify precisely which individuals, species, nationalities, classes, professions,genders, ages, and so on of beings to be affected and to be excluded, and themagic will affect only those she desires, avoiding others even if they are ac-companying or even touching beings who are Lliira�s deemed targets. If thelights of her wake have faded, these invisible �waiting� magics remain for 1turn in the spot where she set them to strike at the unwary.

Lliira can only place such waiting magics in areas she has directly passedthrough, and each takes effect only once, discharging itself fully at thattime. Each release of such a magic forces Lliira into another shape (typi-cally a lillend, lamia, or draconic form�but always one of her choosing) forat least 1 round. She retains (and can use all the powers of) such a form foras long as she desires, but retains all of her own powers also�and, of course,her intellect and alignment, whatever the tendencies of the beast whose

Lliira destroys any form of nondivine undead creature with her touch. Herlight step or the sparkling trail of her passage while dancing on air acts as afreedom spell (the reverse of imprisonment), wherever she treads. She can con-vert any form of liquid within a container of some sort (even fountains qual-

form she�s taken normally are. The goddess usually returns to her dancinghuman form as soon as possible. Observations of her transmutations overthe years have led to her being cryptically called the Everchanging Goddessin holy writings and caused those not familiar with the secrets of her faith agreat deal of confusion. (Most often, they confuse Lliira with Leira.)

are then hired by the joybringers to act as peacekeepers (�friendly bounc-ers�), and the Lliiran clergy members position overhead nets with strategi-cally hidden pull ropes and unseen servant spells (and the like) to neutralizetroublemakers and persistent combatants.

Joybringers have no organized hierarchy or chain of command. Relationsbetween clerics, specialty priests, spellsingers, and mystics are excellent. Ad-venturing clerics, mystics, spellsingers, and specialty priests are universallyrespected as envoys from temple to temple, but no religious community ofLliira reports to, or is subservient to, another. The visit of an adventuring

ify, but natural ponds, lakes, and the sea do not) into any other nonmagicalliquid by touching the container. Typically, she uses ability this to changepoor ale into fine wine, but she can change wine into soapy water or sourmilk as a joke or to get back at someone who has spoken poorly of or to her.

Lliira is immune to all spells, abilities, and spell-like effects that causefear, impede her movement (such as hold spells), or alter her emotions. Shecasts all charm sphere or enchantment/charm school spells to double effectin all respects and a -2 penalty to saving throws (when saving throws are al-lowed).

priest to an established temple is cause for celebration (of course, a sunnyday is also cause for celebration, as is a cloudy one, or a cloudy one with a

Since the Time of Troubles, the church enfolded many of the former fol-

nice sunset, etc.). The accepted guidance and leadership of the Grand Rap-

lowers and clergy members of Waukeen, especially those merchants who

turemother over the entire church is a matter of obeying generalized policy

enjoy revelry (in other words, those possessed of a sense of humor and whoare not miserly to the point of grasping after every coin and begrudging the

decrees and accepting temple funds from her seemingly limitless coffers.

time away from trade�or the loss of dignity�involved in a little celebra-tion). Many of Waukeen�s former temples have now been reconsecrated toOther Manifestations

Lliira appears as a will-o�-wisp that leaves a sparkling trail and can emitdancing lights at will that it can direct to illuminate certain areas, signal,form symbols or words in the air, and so on. The wisp speaks with Lliira�svoice, has all the properties of a true will-o�-wisp, and can unleash spellsjust as the avatar of the goddess does. This wisp is almost always flickeringand dancing and is often accompanied by a wordless, ululating song. (Thissound is the goddess singing; it sounds like a human female voice crooningfrom afar.)

If Lliira intends to take no active part in events, she may manifest as asudden dancing radiance about an item or favored person. This light isshort-lived and is accompanied by joyous laughter or exultant, wordlesssinging. The light can convey silent mental messages (as words spoken inthe mind) and one priest spell per round to those entering its confines.Spells thus bestowed are either cast upon the being or placed in their mindsfor their own later use (one time only) and require no material compo-nents. Beings who receive such spells to cast need not even be spellcastersto wield them; when they loose the spells, they cast them as a spellcaster ofthe appropriate type at their own level of experience. The goddess chooseswhich creatures receive her spells or words�they are not given to just anybeing who enters her manifested radiance.

Lliira also acts through the appearance or presence of aasimar, coures,einheriar (all onetime mortal jokesters, dancers, revelers, and party folk),firres, lillend, movanic devas, and shieres. More commonly she turns bever-ages into fine wines and liquors unexpectedly and sends multicolored but-terflies, robins, sparrows, bluebirds, rainbows, kittens, puppies, pinto orpiebald horses, gold or white goats, daisies, violets, snapdragons, pansies,other wildflowers, opals, agates of all sorts, lynx eyes, microclines, silk-stones, rhodochrosites, rosalines, phenalopes, star rose quartzes, tabasheers,tremairs, jasmals, fire opals, and diamonds to show her favor and as a sign toinspire her faithful.

Lliira. With the infusion of new blood, the Lliiran church has becomemildly more responsible and mildly more mercantile, but it has also devel-oped a very strong regard for the preservation of personal freedoms. A fewformer Waukeenar insist on retaining their previous formal titles and vest-ments, but even such �old guard coinspinners� are gradually being absorbedinto the malleable and free-wheeling Lliiran church. Most of the formerpriests of Waukeen are now out-right joybringers who are either fully takenwith the power of the faith or worshiping Lliira as Waukeen�s godly regent.Most former Waukeenar seek to work within the wide boundaries of behav-ior and responsibilities set forth by the Lliiran faith and consider them-selves to be the wiser heads that will aid Lliira to best bring happiness to themost people. Most joybringers regard ex-Waukeenar as bean-counters andstick-in-the-muds, but think they are learning to �let go� with time.

Joybringers use few titles, addressing each other as �Brother� and �Sis-ter,� and referring to themselves as �the True,� novices and laity as �theTested,� and nonbelievers as �the Unseeing.� Temples are led by a Master ofthe Revels (even if female), and she or he is assisted by a High Prior, a Lore-speaker, a Seneschal, and a Quartermaster. The goddess herself is the onlyMistress of the Revels, and by her decree such formerly popular titles asRevelmistress have been outlawed.

Temples of Lliira can be of any style, but are usually built around a hugemeeting facility/party room/ball room, from which open out smaller confer,ence rooms, bars, chat rooms, and nap rooms (for those who haveoverindulged in drink). Upper floors usually house the clergy members,who live in comfortable apartments. Lliiran temples are opulent, by anystandard, featuring crystal chandeliers, parquet or mosaic stone floors, vel-vet draperies, artful gilt mirrors, and well-stocked, solid oak bars. Templesand shrines to Lliira are usually fronted by her symbol. This symbol is theone described above, an older form used in ancient texts (the three stars ap-pearing in a diagonal row descending from upper left to lower right with the

orange star uppermost, then yellow, and red lowest), or a special symbolused most frequently on altars or as an illusion on her temple doors (a fatlog on a fire, accompanied by the scent of cinnamon or roasting meat).

Dogma: Lliira�s followers are believers in the ability, potential, and tal-ent of the individual, and the celebration of life and its diversity. Often thisleads to hedonism that would make a Sunite blush (briefly). They believethat they should spread joy wherever and whenever possible, and allow noone to be sad when mirth or comfort could be given to them. They strive tobrighten the hearts and minds of all the folk they meet, not merely friendsand others who embrace Lliira.

Joybringer novices are charged as follows by a manifestation of the god-dess: �Exult in life, and find joy in all things. Out of grief and despair, wrestjoy, and join in the dance. Celebrate and honor deaths and the dead�thebest mourning is laughing remembrance. My true servants seek joy alwaysthrough working to bestow it on others. Hide no true feelings, but dancethem out if it is not prudent to speak them aloud. Gather into celebrationsthe lost, the lonely, the exiled and outlaw, the shunned, and even your foes:Festivals are for all. Let folk follow their own desires, and respect theirchoices. Learn what folk find funny, and what lightens their hearts, and inthis doing come to know yourself and how best to serve Lliira and all intelli-gent beings.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Clergy of Lliira are the most fun holy folk in allof Faerûn to be around. Making everyone have a good time is their profes-sion, and they throw the best parties and are the best priesthood at perceiv-ing the needs of others and governing themselves accordingly. (Somepeople need intelligent conversation to be happy, others need companion-ship or something to smash�Lliirans try to see what is needed withoutbeing told and to fulfill it.) As a result, joybringers are among the best-loved priests in all Faerûn, even among folk who think their goddess repre-sents empty-headed, frivolous nonsense. Joybringers do their best to seethat they do little heart-lifting deeds every day that surprise or aid people.They also ensure that people get a steady stream of jokes from them so thatmost Faerûnians are eager to talk to them and not guarded in speech, andthey explain to any who ask about the methods by which they distribute of-ferings among the needy so that if people fall onto hard times they knowwho to see or where to go.

The smoothest diplomats among Lliirans (as opposed to the most bril-liant clowns) speak to rulers and wealthy merchants of how useful thechurch of Lliira is at keeping the common people happy (or at least con-tent)�something that perceptive merchants and rulers can see for them-selves-and remind such powerful folk that the church needs constant fi-nancial support. Wise heads among the rich and powerful give these joy-bringers regular donations, and the church also receives a constant stream ofsmall handfuls of coins from the wills of poor peasants who want to givesomething to the only people who made them happy.

The most powerful clergy of Lliira are those who have demonstratedshrewd business judgment in handling church investments; they know howto parlay what is donated into many times that amount (a skill at which for-mer Waukeenar excel, and which makes those who remain in the faithlikely to gain status quickly after the faith�s initial prejudice against them).This process not only yields the church the funds it needs to do good works(and pay for all that food and wine), but this cleverly earned wealth hasmade it one of the larger landholders in Faerûn�albeit as the sum of theholdings of a large number of quasi-independent, locally run temples, not afirmly ruled, organized empire. Far-sighted Lliiran clergy members are broad-ening the reach of the church to make it increasingly �the faith that bright-ens everyday life and therefore should be embraced in everyday life,� and theworship of Lliira is growing steadily.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: All of the major holidays of thecalendar and all local festivals (and in truth, just about anything else) areoccasions for a �holy festival� or �lesser revel� of the Lliiran faith. These cer-emonies always involve an opening fanfare and songs to the goddess givenwhile tumbling or dancing and then progress to a feast. What happensthereafter is determined by the occasion; there may be speeches or a solemnholy ritual, ribald comedy entertainment, amorous pursuits, or a friendlycontest such as a tug-of-war, knock-the-knight-down, or a pun duel.

On all joyous occasions, offerings of food or wealth are �held up to thegoddess� and her name invoked. These offerings are then buried, burned, or(whenever possible) given away to beggars and others not invited to, or un-able to be present at, the revelry.

The most holy ceremonies to Lliira always begin with the ritual ofSwords Cast Down, wherein two or more weapons are cast onto the groundamid chanting and covered with fresh flowers (either picked or�in win-ter�conjured up by hired druids, hired mages, or special spells cast by se-

nior clergy members). The most holy personal prayers to the goddess alwaysinvolve the faithful supplicant dancing alone in a meadow, garden or beau-tiful setting while whispering or singing prayers to the goddess. The appear-ance of a rainbow during such prayers is seen as a blessing and a powerfulgood omen.

Major Centers of Worship: The philosophical center of the Lliiranfaith is the Palace of Holy Festivals in Selgaunt. Here Grand RapturemotherChlanna Asjros issues the Words of the Goddess as written policy decrees toall Lliirans. She also oversees church investments of titanic size and scope,sending out supportive funds to recognized religious communities of Lliiraeverywhere. New communities are identified and �certified� to her by theroving specialty priests of the faith, who take care to force false worshipers ofthe goddess to stop invoking her name without also serving her. Because ofthe vigilant joydancers, few ne�er-do-wells who desire only to revel onchurch funds receive more than one �gift of the goddess� payment.

Chlanna was formerly known as �High Revelmistress� until she was per-sonally �touched by Lliira.� After this experience, she readily adopted anew title in accordance with the goddess�s wishes. She also found that shehad gained a divinely granted special ability to levitate and dance on air atwill or walk around three feet off the ground, not merely ascend or descendas most levitating folk do. Church philosophers (such as they are) take it asgiven that all future Grand Rapturemothers or Rapturefathers will begranted this ability.

Affiliated Orders: The Lliiran church has no affiliated knightly ordersfor obvious reasons. It does have several honorary orders celebrating excel-lence in the art of dance, including the Order of the White Violet (for per-formance of great poignancy) and the Order of the Leaping Stag (for perfor-mance skillfully evoking the nature of an animal) among others. Lliira�schurch also has a fundamental tie to the Harpers, a secret organization work-ing for freedom and good throughout Faerûn.

Priestly Vestments: Ceremonial vestments of Lliira for joybringers ofboth genders consist of a skin-tight outfit divided into unequal orange, yel-low, and red sections. One leg may be yellow, the other red, one sleeve or-ange, the other yellow, the front orange, and the back yellow. A sleevelessrobe is worn over the entire affair in patches of yellow, red, and orange.Plunging necklines are common among both priests and priestesses, and thehair is worn long for both genders of joybringers, although it may flow free orbe bound up in any manner of hairdo. Elaborate earrings are also worn byjoybringers of either gender, and cosmetics, anklets, bracelets, and delicatechain belts may also be seen; personal variations in dress are permitted andeven encouraged.

Adventuring Garb: The red, yellow, and orange coloration of the Lli-iran faith is continued in the field in armor, overrobes, cloaks, and outdoorclothing as much as possible. When this is not possible, a cloak featuringsome red, yellow, and orange fabric is preferred, even if it but sports piping inthose colors.

Specialty Priests (Joydancers)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 13, Charisma 13PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaA L I G N M E N T : C GWEAPONS: Lasso and net (bludgeoning weapons in extreme circum-

stances)ARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERESS: All, animal, charm, creation, elemental, healing, necro-

mantic, protection, sun, travelers, weatherMINOR SPHERES: Divination, plant, summoning, thought, timeMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: TumblingBONUS PROFS: Dancing, juggling, tightrope walking� Specialty priests of Lliira may utter a soothing word once per day. The

soothing word has two functions. First, it may remove fear or other harm-ful emotion-affecting magic from all within 20 feet of the priest. Thepriest has a 50% chance per individual affected to remove the magic,plus 2% per level. Second, the soothing word may add +2 to initial reac-tions with others. The use of the soothing word is obvious and visible, so ifthe individuals it is being used on are suspicious of magic or are paranoid,it may be interpreted as an attack.

� Joydancers are extremely good at unarmed combat of a free-form naturedue to their highly toned physiques and good senses of balance. Theygain bonuses when engaged in wrestling or �punching���a type of dam-age they often inflict with well-placed kicks rather than with their fists.When they make an unarmed attack against an armed opponent, normalinitiative is rolled for both combatants, and the usual bonus that the

armed opponent would receive in attacking them under the Weapons inDefense rule is reduced to a +1 attack and damage bonus. (The Weaponsin Defense rule is found in the Weapons in Non-Lethal Combat subsec-tion of the Attacking Without Killing section of the Combat chapter ofthe PHB. Normally, this rule allows an armed character to attack firstwith a +4 on attack and damage rolls when another character makes anunarmed attack against him or her.)

Unarmed Combat with The Complete Fighter�s Handbook, TheComplete Priest�s Handbook, or the PHB and the DMG: In this sys-tem of unarmed combat, joydancers begin play as punching/kicking spe-cialists or wrestling specialists. (They receive a free weapon proficiencywhich must be used to specialize in one of these nonlethal forms of com-bat.)

Specializing in these combat forms gives joydancers a +2 bonus to at-tack rolls (including an additional +1 special to their class), a +1 bonusto damage rolls, and a +1 chart bonus with their unarmed attacks. Joy-dancers specialized in punching gain one extra attack per round, whilejoydancers specialized in wrestling gain a +2 bonus to their effectiveStrength score for purposes of maintaining or breaking holds. The chartbonus allows a character to pick a result on the Punching and Wrestlingresults chart one higher or one lower than the actual attack roll woulddictate.

At 6th, 13th, and 20th levels, joydancers may spend another weaponproficiency to give themselves an additional +1 to attack and damagerolls, and an additional +1 chart bonus.

Unarmed Combat with PLAYER�S OPTION: Combat & Tactics: Inthis system of unarmed combat, joydancers begin play with extra skill inpummeling/kicking or wrestling. (They receive a free weapon profi-ciency which must be used to become expert in one of these nonlethalforms of combat.) Whenever possible, they use their feet to pummel ifthey decide to pursue that form of combat, inflicting the extra damagedone by kicking, and they may kick creatures the same size category asthemselves or smaller (or prone, sitting, or kneeling opponents of anysize) and still inflict this extra damage.

At 1st level, joydancers are considered expert; at 6th level, special--ized; at 13th level, a master; and at 20th level, a grand master. The exactbenefits are described in more detail in Chapter Five of PLAYER�S OPTION:Combat & Tactics.

� At 3rd level, joydancers are able to cast bliss (as the 2nd-level priestspell) or unseen servant (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once a day.

� At 5th level, joydancers are able to cast hold person (as the 2nd-levelpriest spell) or sleep (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once a day.

� At 7th level, joydancers are able to cast deadly dance (as the 4th-levelpriest spell) on themselves or another touched being once a day. Theygain the ability to cast another deadly dance once every additional fourlevels (two at 11th, three at 16th, etc.).

� At 10th level, joydancers are able to cast candle of calm (as the 5th-levelpriest spell) once a day.

� At 15th level, joydancers are able to generate magical pheromones thatmimic the ability of Starella�s aphrodisiac (see the Tome of Magic) once aday.

� All of the above abilities for priests of Lliira are revoked if the priest usesa weapon (other than net or lasso) that inflicts damage on another. Thispenalty exists until the joydancer spends a full day engaged in meditationand absolution followed by a big party that lasts all night.

Lliiran Spells2 n d L e v e lBliss (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: CharmRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: SDuration: 4 roundsCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: Neg.This spell causes a single being who fails a saving throw vs. spell to be lost ina trance of intense pleasure and happiness, a sensation felt so acutely thatthe creature fails to notice the rest of the world, approaching danger, or pain.A blissful being wanders aimlessly about, smiling in a dazed fashion anddropping any items it is holding or wielding. Victims of this spell cannot per-form any deliberate task, attack, or defend themselves�even if woundedduring their blissful state. A creature affected by a bliss spell is immune toother bliss spells for one day plus one hour per point of Constitution it has.

The saving throw vs. the spell is made with no bonuses or penalties if thetarget creature has the same level or Hit Dice as the caster, and at a -1penalty per every level or Hit Die that the caster has in excess of the target,or a +1 bonus per every level or Hit Die that the target creature possessesabove the caster�s level. Blissful beings are not affected by hypnosis or any at-tempts (magical or psionic) to control or influence their minds (for ex-ample, charm person spells).

4th LevelDeadly Dance (Alteration)Sphere: CombatRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 4 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One four-limbed, bipedal creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell affects the caster, another touched four-limbed bipedal creature(such as a human), or a touched creature currently using such a form. Itfades, wasted, if used on another sort of creature or if the recipient beingchanges its form to something other than a four-limbed biped.

Recipients of a deadly dance move with fluid grace. They find that re-maining still takes a conscious effort; their bodies want to move. For the du-ration of the deadly dance, the Dexterity of the recipient is increased by 2points and his or her balance is perfect, allowing the recipient to leap aboutand land with pinpoint precision�for example, on tiny ledges�and castspells, catch or throw things, or launch attacks in mid-leap. In each round ofthe deadly dance, she or he can choose to attack with a +3 bonus to attackrolls or to get double the usual number of attacks with the normal chance ofstriking their target.

The material components of this spell are a bit of rubber and a scrap ofsilk.

5th LevelCandle of Calm (Enchantment/Charm, Evocation)Sphere: Charm, ProtectionRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 roundCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: 70-foot-radius sphereSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates the illusion of a lit, levitating candle�an illusion thatgives off very real, flickering light bright enough to read by without any realflame or heat being present. The spell affects all beings who are within 70feet of the candle at any time during the round of its existence. On theround the candle burns, a saving throw vs. spell must successfully be made byany affected creature desiring to cast any spell, launch an attack, or even actto defend themselves in any way beyond movement. (In other words, theycan freely move aside from an attack, but cannot ready a weapon or raise ashield without making a successful saving throw). Any attacks by a creaturewho does make a successful saving throw are made with a -7 penalty to at-tack rolls. On the following round, creatures affected by the candle of calmcan act freely, but their attack rolls are at a -6 penalty. On the second roundafter the candle vanishes, attack rolls at a -5 penalty, and on the thirdround, they are at a -4 penalty, and so on until the penalty vanishes on theseventh round after the disappearance of the candle of calm.

The radiance of the candle also causes the same happiness effect in crea-tures as the 4th-level wizard spell emotion and banishes any existing naturalor magical discord, fear, hate, hopelessness, and sadness. Once the candle hasbeen created, its caster is free to engage in other spellcasting without harm-ing its magic.

The material components of this spell are an unlit candle of any sort anda piece of clear crystal or glass.

Loviatar(Maiden of Pain, the Willing Whip,Patroness of Torturers)Lesser Power of Gehenna, LEPORTFOLIO: Pain, hurt, agony, torment, suffering, tortureALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Mungoth/Ondtland

SUPERIOR: None (formerly Bhaal)ALLIES: Malar, Bane (now dead), Bhaal (now dead)FOES: Ilmater, Eldath, Talona, LliiraSYMBOL: A black nine-stranded whip, the ends bloody and

barbed, or (in elder days) a chalk-white, slim, femalehuman left hand, fingertips downward, with three dropsof blood dripping from each of them

WOR. ALIGN.: LE, NE, CELoviatar (Loh-VEE-a-tar), one of the Dark Gods,appears in her religion’s art as a pale maiden dressedin white, pleated armor and carrying a bone-whitewand, a whip, or a scourge that she uses as a weaponagainst her foes. She is venerated by torturers,sadists, and other twisted and evil people and crea-tures, including some nonhumans who love to bullyother nonhumans. While he lived, Loviatar served

Bhaal along with Talona, though the two goddesses are heated rivals.Loviatar loves to torment and tease Talona and has more than once ex-pressed the opinion that by all rights Talona ought to and eventually willserve her.

Loviatar is aggressive, domineering, and fearless. She has a cold and cal-culatingly cruel nature and IS also almost unreachable emotionally—towardlove, fear, or even hatred. It would have to be a miracle for any deity or mor-tal to make a dent in her icebound heart. She has an instinct for inflictingboth physical and psychological pain, and she always seems to know what tosay and the way to say it to inflict the most hurt and raise the biggest self-doubts in someone, mortal or deity. And unlike most simple bullies, she doesnot fear pain or hurt herself and laughs at attempts to physically damage orverbally humiliate her. The only possible weakness one might use againsther is her very calculating nature, which relies on her assumption of the in-nate selfishness of human nature—beings acting in a self-sacrificing orheroic manner can sometimes snarl her carefully knit plans.

Loviatar�s Avatar (Cleric 29, Mage 23, Fighter 15)Loviatar appears as a beautiful human maiden of slim build, thigh-length,straight, platinum-blonde hair, and a cold, sinister manner. She dresses in re-vealing white silks decorated with silver chains or in black leather decoratedwith outlandish spikes. She speaks softly and moves with sensual grace. Shetruly enjoys inflicting pain and does not care if she receives it—more thanone mortal adventurer has been startled to see her deliberately advancing soas to suffer an attack. When she bleeds, her blood is black and thick, likesyrup. She uses spells from any school or sphere, but prefers using spells fromthe illusion school of magic and spells that cause lingering pain and damageover several rounds or longer.

AC -3; MV 15, Fl 24; HP 187; THAC0 6; #AT 5/2Dmg Weapon +7 or weapon +9 (+7 STR, +2 spec. bonus in scourge, dagger, and whip)MR 65%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 19, DEX 21, CON 20, INT 21, WIS 17, CHA 22Spells P: 11/11/10/9/9/9/7, W: 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/3Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Loviatar can hide her attacks or traps with illusionarymagic. Mortals who launch magic at her or attack her instantly reexperiencethe worst pain in their lives with the same hit point loss and disabilities thatthey suffered the first time. If such beings have died and been magicallybrought back, they reexperience the worst single attack that they survived.A second attack by the same mortals forces them to reexperience the sec-and-worst attack they have ever suffered.

Loviatar wears two garters that are ropes of intanglement; she unleashesthese if in personal danger. She is considered to be specialized in scourge,dagger (her dagger of ice), and whip. She wields a dagger of ice in hand-to-hand combat whose strike chills for 1d10 points of damage unless the targetis shielded against cold-based attacks and that cuts for a further 1d4 pointsof damage. The dagger can absorb 9 spell levels per turn; Loviatar canchoose to turn this power off to save it for more fearsome attacks if she seesa feeble spell coming her way.

Loviatar can create a 20-foot-long barbed whip or scourge at will in ei-ther hand. Using a whip, she can lash out with deft accuracy to flick diceout of cups without moving or toppling those cups, strike a foe’s eyes, or re-move a ring from a single finger, and so on. Such whips or scourges fade tonothingness the moment she releases them. Her scourge inflicts 8d8 pointsof damage. Her whip lashes for 4d6 points of damage or inflicts 2d6 pointsof damage and winds around a foe’s trunk or limbs (as Loviatar desires). En-wrapped foes move at half rate, are unable to ready weapons or employ

spells having material components, and can—if the goddess wishes—bedragged helplessly toward her at a rate of 10 feet per round.

The kiss of Loviatar can heal her clergy or others she has a fondness for orburn like acid, corroding flesh for 2d12 points damage. The use of eitherpower causes such emotional turmoil in mortal targets that unless they makea successful saving throw vs. death magic, they are stunned into total help-lessness the following round and can take no offensive action (nor do theyapply Dexterity bonuses to their Armor Class that round).

Other ManifestationsLoviatar manifests either as a flying black whip that moves as her avatardoes and has the same properties as the whips her avatar can create or as afloating, disembodied human female head that laughs maniacally as it fliesabout, platinum blond tresses streaming behind it. In either form Loviatarcan use her kiss ability, speak, write (with the tip of the whip or an ani-mated lock of hair, in either case leaving behind letters written in blackblood), or cast illusions.

Loviatar also acts through the appearance or presence of baatezu (exiles),imps, and tieflings (mages and warriors who are all cruel, veteran adventur-ers, and skilled torturers). More commonly she sends inquisitors, night-mares, hell hounds, black rats, black poisonous spiders, wolf spiders, jet,ivory, snowflake obsidian, webstone, black violets, and black and red pop-pies to show her favor and as a sign to inspire her faithful.

The ChurchCL E R G Y: Clerics, specialty priests, monks, mysticsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mon: No, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yea, SP: No, Mon: No, Mys: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, monks, and mystics of Loviatar receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Worship of Loviatar tends to be strongest in large, decadent cities such asAthkatla, Calimport, Mulmaster, Saerloon, Selgaunt, Telflamm, Waterdeep,and Westgate. Newcomers are often recruited from the ranks of the boredand wealthy or the desperately hungry beggars through large revels wheremuch drugged wine is drunk and dancing and more intimate pursuits go onfor several days and nights.

Priests of Loviatar are few in number, but widespread in power. Oppo-nents tend to avoid them, since murder is the least that they will do in re-venge against insults to their goddess. Women—both humans and half-elves—dominate the ranks of the priesthood both numerically and in rankand have always done so. Loviatar’s tightly organized priesthood is com-posed primarily of clerics. Her specialty priests, called pains, operate as aseparate arm of the faith, moving from place to place and ensuring that thegoddess’s will is carried out; they serve as the envoys and secret agents/in-quisitors of the church. The clerics hold the pains in great regard, sincethey are often the tools of Loviatar’s punishment. If an organized temple orshrine of Loviatar is present in a city, clerics make up the bulk of the orga-nization, but one to three pains are also able to be called upon by the cler-ics. Mystics often are attached to small groups of pains, and monks, whileliving only with other monks in monasteries and abbeys, usually owe fealtyalso to the temple to which their abbey is hierarchically attached.

Priests of Loviatar are known as Loviatans (pronounced “Low-VEE-a-tans”) and in old texts are sometimes referred to as Lovites (LOH-vites).They tend to be cruel and sadistic. They enjoy bestowing pain upon others(and receiving it) within a hierarchy of strict rules and discipline. Juniorclergy members are often ordered to do tasks in a needlessly difficult orpainful way to reinforce this iron discipline. Those who stay faithful usuallydevelop truly awesome self-control, and in battle can carry on thinking andacting calmly even when dying from wounds or lacking limbs. They be-come very used to pain and are usually much scarred from self-inflicted in-juries and hurts dealt by their superiors. To increase the agonies they re-ceive and inflict, handfuls of salt are often rubbed in open wounds.

Loviatans always pray for battle spells beforegoing out in public and areadmonished to be alert. Although they boldly walk dark streets alone, theirreputations sometimes land them in trouble with drunken sailors or dockworkers or into ambushes from adherents of goodly faiths. Such attackersrapidly discover that most devotees of the Maiden of Pain are vicious in afight. Since they do not fear pain or disfiguring wounds, they strike boldlywhere a more prudent combatant might withdraw. Some priestesses even gointo taverns when bored or restless and deliberately start fights, thoughLoviatans rarely resort to such public methods of spreading mayhem in civ-ilized areas for fear that they will be thwarted, slain, and the faith outlawedor adherents harassed in the future.

Novices or postulants to the Faith of Pain are known as Kneeling Ones.Confirmed priests use the titles (in ascending order): Taystren, Adept (inPain), Sister/Brother (in Torment), Supremar, Caressor (of Terrors),Whiplass/Whiplar, Paingiver, Whipmistress/Whipmaster, High Whip-

The church of Loviatar is currently relatively independent, though itsmembers aid other evil churches when it suits them. They particularly hatethe church of llmater, which teaches that strength comes out of suffering,and the church of Eldath, which teaches of peace, the banishment of fear,and living in harmony with nature, since the specialty priests of thesedeities are resistant to Loviatar�s pain-inflicting abilities.

Most Loviatan temples feature extensive dungeons beneath their above-ground facilities. The surface temples are usually are built of stone or thick

best companions to hurts, and increase the intensity of suffering. Let mercyof sudden abstinence from causing pain and of providing unlooked-for heal-ing come over you seldom, but at whim, so as to make folk hope and in-crease the Mystery of Loviatar�s Mercy. Unswerving cruelty will turn all folkagainst you. Act alluring, and give pain and torment to those who enjoy itas well as to those who deserve it most or would be most hurt by it. Thelash, fire, and cold are the three pains that never fail the devout. Spread myteachings whenever punishment is meted out. Pain tests all, but givesstrength of spirit to the hardy and the true. There is no true punishment if

guished themselves in their service and taken up a life of wandering to fur-ther Loviatar�s will and influence, often sponsoring or leading bands of

mistress/Whipmaster, Branded (of the God), and Truescar. Words in paren-theses in the preceding list represent parts of the formal title seldom usedexcept in rituals, disciplinary hearings, or documents. The last two titles areapplied to all Loviatan clergy members who have served as the head of atemple, abbey, or monastery of the goddess who who have personally distin-

�dark adventurers� to spread torment.

wood and resemble nothing so much as a combination monastic cell com-plex and prison. Even the windows of priest's rooms often sport bars.

Dogma: Loviatar teaches that the world is filled with pain and torment,and the best that one can do is to suffer those blows that cannot be avoidedand deal with the pain back to those who offend. They (chillingly) believethat true pleasure is only won through pain. In the Loviatan faith, thestrong are those who taste pain and strive on.

Novices in the Loviatan faith are charged as follows: �Kindnesses are the

the punisher knows no discipline. Wherever a whip is, there am I. Fearme-and yet long for me.�

Day-to-Day Activities: As one of the Dark Gods, Loviatar likes to befeared, and her clergy members are ordered to whisper of her ever-presentpower in the darkness after they have inflicted pain. Their Prime Charge isto tirelessly cause suffering, both widespread and personal. This work maybe as brutal as flogging an encountered band of orcs until they flee or assubtle as breaking hearts among young nobles by pretending to fall in lovewith the gallants (while disguising one�s Loviatan faith), working to breakup existing amours and friendships, and engaging in scandalous dalliancesbefore coldly spurning the victims and departing. The activities of prudentworshipers of Loviatar should never be so high-profile that local authoritiesset out to imprison or thwart them upon first sight, but such activitiesshould be energetic and numerous. Being a good actor�and of strikingbeauty, or experienced in using spells to appear so�are very useful traits fora Loviatan, but the most successful Loviatans are those who understand theways and natures of folk and so know just how to cause them the most painand to manipulate them toward that end.

her candle with consecrated wine.Major Centers of Worship: Aside from in the nation of Dambrath,

Dambrath, Yenandra, is its high priestess, the Black Spires of the Maidentemple in the Vale of Wailing Women west of Ishla in Amn is the largest,wealthiest, and most energetic center of worship to Loviatar, sending outagents all over Faerûn and speaking with �the close love of the goddess.�The House of Spires has risen to such prominence only in the last decade

Nyndra, a dark-eyed, raven-haired, gaunt woman of truly vicious tastes and

sion in a pool of a secret, enchanted mixture of tree saps and plant oil�and that creatures in contact with this substance automatically make allSystem Shock and Resurrection Survival rolls if faced with situations re-

Affiliated Orders: The Loviatan church has no affiliated knightly or-ders. Monks of the faith all belong to the Disciples of the White Rod,named in honor of the token granted to their founder by Loviatar and heldin the home abbey near Calimport as a relic. Mystics follow an eccentricphilosophy/order that they call the Way of Transcendence. When askedwhat their order's tenets are, they just smile knowingly.

Priestly Vestments: Loviatans of both genders wear high black boots,

movements cause red flashes).Loviatans are usually armed with saw-edged daggers and whips. A typi-

cal priest of low rank has a dagger at her belt, another in one boot, and a

first strike releases the venom, causing the next six blows to force saving

High-ranking priestesses are usually also equipped with several iron bandsof Bilarro spheres at their belts, and a few also carry a wand of frost, fire, and

throws vs. poison on a victim. (Failure of this saving throw means falling

fear. This rechargable magical weapon is a cat-o�-nine-tails with a 4-foot

asleep for 1d8+3 turns commencing in 1d4+1 rounds, and slapping or dous-

reach made of electrum tentacles attached to a steel shaft. Every strike from

ing the sleeper in cold water does not awaken him or her. )

it drains 1 charge and deals out magical damage, as follows (roll 1d10): On a

candles, passing some parts of their bodies through or over their flames re-peatedly until the rite ends with the highest-ranking priestess extinguishing

where the worship of Loviatar is the state religion and the queen of

and so very rapidly because of one priestess: Queen of Torment Chalathra

a legendary hunger to feel pain. It should be noted that Chalathra hasfound and modified an old draconic spell that acts to heal through immer-

quiring them while largely immersed. Loviatans will hunt down�to theends of Faerûn and beyond�and slay anyone stealing any samples of this�Milk of the Maiden.�

black choker gorgets, and long black gloves that reach up to their shou-ders. They also wear daring-looking leather body harnesses over or underside-slit ritual robes of icy white or black lined with scarlet silk (so that

barged whip with a 6-foot reach that lashes for 1d6+1 points of damage. Apriestess of �full� (medium) rank adds to this gear a barbed cat-o�-nine-tailswith a 4-foot reach that flails for 2d4 points damage, and perhaps a blackmetal mace with skin-contact sleep venom in its hollow so that its

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The most basic ritual performedby Loviatans is a kneeling prayer at morning and at evening performed afterstriking oneself once with a whip. Other rituals of the faith center on con-secrating wine, whips, holy symbols, and other items�practical, suchas potions of healing, and horrific, such as torture implements�used by thedevout and on celebrating advancement in priestly rank.

All four seasonal festivals are celebrated by Loviatans with the Rite ofPain and Purity: a circle dance of chanting, singing clergy members per-formed upon barbed wire, thorns, or broken glass or crystal, where thepriests allow themselves to be urged to greater efforts by the whips of high-level priests and are accompanied by the drumming of lay worshipers. A redradiance rises gradually and forms a flickering cloud above the ring. If Lovi-atar has important missions to speak of, is especially pleased with this groupof followers, or wants to enact her displeasure, she manifests in the heart ofthe cloud. If Loviatar does not manifest, the ritual ends after half an hour,and the priests heal themselves.

Every twelfth night (unless such a night coincides with a Rite of Painand Purity, which preempts it) the clergy members celebrate smallerCandle Rites wherein they sing, chant, and pray as they dance around lit

roll of 1, 4, or 7, the target takes 3d6 points of frost damage; on a roll of 2, 5,or 8, the victim is burned for 3d6 points of damage; on a roll of 3, 6, or 9, thevictim is affected as if by a wand of fear; and on a roll of 10, two tentacles (de-termine their powers randomly) act on the victim, both dealing their usualdamage (reroll any second roll of 10). Saving throws vs. spell are allowedagainst the whip�s fear power, but not against its other two types of attack.

Adventuring Garb: Priests and priestesses of Loviatar wear a pleatedarmor that resembles scale mail. However, the ceremonial garb is light-weight and designed for fashion rather than protection. It is constructed toemphasize the figure of the wearer rather than to provide true protection.The AC of ceremonial scale mail is 6 instead of 4. Loviatar�s priests wear itas a badge of honor and pride.

The pleated mail is often augmented by breastplates that bristle withspikes. From a wearer of such augmented armor, a firm hug (the Embrace ofLoviatar) does 1d2 points of damage. The addition of the breastplate addssomewhat to the protection provided by the armor, raising the outfit�sArmor Class to 5.

Loviatar grants boons, in the form of white wands, to those who havecaused widespread suffering. She usually grants these boons to members ofher priesthood who have served her outstandingly. However, she has beenknown to grant white wands to individuals outside her faith who have, will-ingly or not, caused widespread suffering. She prefers to grant them to thosewho have unwillingly or unknowingly done so, in particular good and law-

�gifts�; in such cases, the wand emits her cold laughter whenever it oper-ates.) Loviatar�s white wands appear mysteriously, but their origin and pur-

cause. (Loviatar delights in tormenting good or lawful beings with theseful types who will be tormented just knowing that they have advanced her

pose are mentally communicated to the beings they are intended for upon

first contact. (If any other creature but the one it is intended for touches awhite wand, it melts away like ice in the hot sun.) A white wand absorbs1d10 levels of spells launched against the wand-bearer before being used up.It operates automatically to completely absorb such spells. When a whitewand’s capacity is exceeded, it dissolves—but it does wholly negate any lastmagic that overloads it, even if the spell greatly exceeds the level-absorp-tion capacity remaining in the wand.

Specialty Priests (Pains)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:

ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERESS

MINOR SPHERES:

MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Constitution 15, Wisdom 15Constitution, WisdomLEAll bludgeoning weapons (wholly Type B) plus whip andscourgeAll armor types up to and including scale mail and shield(pleated ceremonial scale mail preferred)All, charm, combat, elemental, healing, law, necroman-tic, sunAn ima l , d iv ina t ion , guard ian , summoning , t ime,weatherSame as clericsLeatherworkmg, scourgeEndurance, rope use, whip

• Pains may inflict a pain touch on any opponent they touch with a suc-cessful attack roll using a hand or other limb. The recipient is allowed asaving throw vs. spell. If this saving throw succeeds, she or he suffers noeffect. If this saving throw fails, she or he is wracked by pain, suffering a-4 penalty to attack rolls and a -2 penalty to all Dexterity checks for asmany rounds as a pain’s level. Pains may attack one individual of size Hor smaller each day for every three levels of experience they have (oneperson at 1st-3rd levels, two at 4th-6th level, etc.). Pains may combinethis ability with any attack roll to touch a certain being (such as is re-quired for say, a cause light wounds spell), in some cases resulting in twomagical effects happening to a creature at once. Certain special abilitiesof other specialty priests (Ilmater and Eldath, for example) negate theeffect of this ability. As a result, there is great hatred between the clergyof Loviatar and that of these deities.

• At 3rd level, pains are able to cast whip of flame (as the 2nd-level priestspell) once a day.

• At 5th level, pains are able to cast dance of pain or whip of pain (as the3rd-level priest spells) once a day.

• At 5th level, pains are able to cast touch of Loviatar (as the 2nd-levelspell) once a day. They may cast an additional touch of Loviatar for everytwo experience levels they gain above 5th level (twice at 7th level,three times at 9th, etc.) to a limit of five times a day.

• At 7th level, pains are able to cast kiss of torment (as the 4th-level priestspell) once a day.

• At 10th level, pains are able to cast eyebite (as the 6th-level wizardspell) once a day. Only the effects of the sleep form of the spell can bereflected upon them, however.

• At 15th level, pains are able to cast symbol (as the 7th-level wizardspell) once a day. They prefer the pain form of this spell-like ability, butcan use the other forms also.

• At 20th level, pains are able to cast ensnarement (as the 6th-level wizardspell) once a month. They are taught how to make the proper wardingcircles through the lore of the church and do so with the same facility asa wizard of their level. Permanent warding circles are found in thedungeons of some temples of Loviatar.

Loviatan Spells2 n d L e v e lLoviatar�s Caress (Alteration)Sphere: CombatRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell provides the means of unerringly delivering another single harm-ful or beneficial spell of 4th level or less that requires a touch to deliver castwithin the round immediately preceding the casting of Loviatar’s caress. Itmay be combined with the pain touch ability of a specialty priest of Loviatar.

Whip of Flame (Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 7 roundsCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a blazing whip or flexible line of flames extending for 12feet from one of the caster’s hands (or, if lacking a hand, from the end ofwhatever is left of the caster’s arm). The whip of flame is wielded using thecaster’s THAC0, and it strikes once per round. Although this weightless lashbehaves like a whip, and bums brightly enough to see by, the flames are actu-ally an illusion, and cannot ignite anything. The weapon is an intangible lineof force, not an actual cord that can wrap around things, be grasped, or be cut.

A whip of flame does damage by transmitting heat, searing whatever ittouches for 1d8+3 points of damage per strike. Metal weapons and armortransmit full damage to their wearers, but leather armor or the padding typi-cally worn under metal armor reduces damage by half, rounding fractionsdown, for the first strike of the whip of flame; thereafter, such garments arehot enough to transmit full damage to their wearers.

Note that creatures can pass through the lashing whip without beingslowed or hampered in any way, but in turn they have no effect on it. Beingswho rush through the stretched-out whip or otherwise deliberately comeinto contact with it take its full damage even when it has already struck an-other creature on the same round.

The whip of flame fades away when the spell expires, the caster wills it to,or the caster commences any other spellcasting.

The material components of the spell are one of the caster’s hairs and aflaming branch, spark, or lump of charcoal.

3rd LevelDance of Pain (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 4 roundsCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: One recently injured creature of size L or smallerSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell only affects creatures who have been recently injured, defined ashaving lost some of their hit points within the preceding 24 hours. It iswasted if cast on a healthy, unharmed being, or a creature larger than size L.(The spell cannot form around larger beasts.) When the caster successfullytouches the target of the spell, a spiral of illusory blades whirls around thevictim, marking the boundaries of a field of sharp-edged, invisible lines offorce that cut the victim and buffet him or her about. If free to move, victimsof this spell are jerked about in an uncontrollable dance that causes a -2penalty to their attack rolls, worsens their Armor Class by 4 points, andmakes intricate tasks (such as opening locks or casting spells) impossible.The unseen cutting edges slice and slash the victim for 2d4+4 points of dam-age per round. Restrained or immobile victims simply suffer damage.

Victims of this spell are allowed saving throws vs. spell each round.When a saving throw succeeds, it means that they take only 2 points of dam-age on that round and can manage at least one semi-intricate task (such ashurling a missile weapon, getting an item from pouch or belt and readying itfor use, and so on), but still cannot cast spells.

Whip of Pain (Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a whiplike, flexible line of force emanating from the fin-gertips of the caster’s hand (or, if lacking a hand, from the end of whatever isleft of the caster’s arm). This crackling, coiling line of purple sparks iswielded as a whip and uses its caster’s THAC0 to attack. It strikes opponentsup to 10 feet distant.

The whip of pain functions as a +2 magical weapon for purposes of whichcreatures it is able to affect. When the wielder successfully strikes a target, thewhip makes a loud snapping sound, and the target must make a saving throw

vs. spell and a Constitution ability check. If the saving throw fails, the victimsuffers 4d4 points of damage; if it succeeds, the victim suffers only half damage.If the ability check succeeds, the target feels only enough pain to suffer a -1penalty to his or her very next attack roll. If it falls, the target is wracked bypain on the remainder of the current and all of the next round. This lowers hisor her Armor Class by 1, places a -2 penalty on attack rolls, and makes it im-possible for the victim to concentrate enough to cast any spells.

The whip of pain fades away when the spell expires, is dispelled, the casterwills it to, the caster falls unconscious, or the caster commences any otherspellcasting. The wielder can trigger magical items like wands with his or herother hand without ending this spell.

The material components of this spell are a drop of unholy water and oneof the caster’s hairs.

4th LevelKiss of Torment (Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: TouchComponent5: V, SDuration: 3 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One creature of size L or lessSaving Throw: SpecialTo enact kiss of torment, the caster must successfully touch the bare flesh ofthe victim with his or her bare flesh; this touch can be of any type from a lightbrush with the fingertips to an actual kiss. Kiss of torment attacks the nervoussystem of the body, overwhelming it with phantom pain that causes the vic-tim to writhe uncontrollably and suffer 4d6 points of damage. Typically, tar-gets of this spell can retain their footing and their grasp on wielded or carrieditems, but can do little else; attacking or uttering incantations is impossible.

The victim is allowed a saving throw vs. spell at the end of the firstround, and if it succeeds, the spell ends. If it fails, the writhing continues fora second round and mother saving throw is necessary. If this second savingthrow succeeds, no damage is taken in the second round and the spell ends,but if it falls, an additional 2d6 points of damage is inflicted upon the victim,the writhing continues for a third round, and another saving throw is neces-sary. If this third saving throw succeeds, no damage is taken in the thirdround and the spell ends, but if it fails, an additional ld6 points of damage isinflicted upon the victim.

M a l a r(The Beastlord, Lord of Beasts, the Black-Blooded Pard,the Ravaging Bear)Lesser Power of Carceri, CEPORTFOLIO: Hunters, marauding beasts and monsters, blood, blood-

lust, evil lycanthropes, stalkingALIASES: The Stalker (Vilhon Reach), Render (Endless Ice and

Great Glacier), Blue Bear (Uthgardt barbarians), Herne(Orcs of the High Forest)

DOMAIN NAME: Colothys/The Land of the HuntSUPERIOR: TalosALLIES: Auril Tales Umberlee, Bane (now dead), LoviatarFOES: Chauntea, Deneir, Eldath, Ilmater, Lurue the Unicorn,

Nobanion, Silvanus, Sune, Gwaeron Windstrom, Shial-lia, Uthgar

SYMBOL: A brown-furred, bestial claw with long, curving talonstipped with fresh red blood

WOR. ALIGN.: N, CN, LE, NE, CEMalar (MAH-larr) is the god of the savage wild.Along with Umberlee and Auril, he is one of theGods of Fury who serve Tales. He is worshiped byhunters who revel in the kill or who hunt for sportor to excess, fallen rangers, sentient carnivores, andlycanthropes. Those who suffer the depredations ofwild beasts attempt to placate the Beastlord with of-ferings of freshly killed and bloody meat, but Malar

rarely recognizes their entreaties. In his more favorable aspects he is reveredby beings who identify with the untamed nature, grace, and amorality ofpredators.

AC -3; MV 21 (leap 70 feet); HP 207; THAC0 -9; #AT 5* or 3**

D m g 3 d 4 + 1 1 / 3 d 4 + 1 1 / 4 d 4 + 1 1 ( c l a w × 4 / f a n g s , + 1 1 S T R ) o r 1 d 1 0 + 1 1

(antlers, +11 STR) and 1d6+16 (spear +3, +11 Str, +2 spec. bonus in spear)MR 70%; SZ L (12 feet long— Beast, or 12 feet tall — Master of the Hunt

STR 23, DEX 24, CON 23, INT 15, WIS 20, CHA 18

Spells P: 10/10/9/9/5/3/2Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

*The Beast can attack each round with four taloned claws and one fanged bite.

** The master of the Hunt can attack once each round with his antlers and two

times with his spear.

Malar achieves almost sensual fulfillment from the hunt and the kill. Herevels in the fear radiated by the hunted and hungers for the blood of hisprey. He speaks only in low growling undertone or vicious snarl. The Lord of

Beasts despises the Balance sought by druids and their deities and seeks tooverthrow it through the actions of his faithful. He manifests an avatar inFaerûn in an endless hunt across the Realms whenever the mood strikeshim—which is almost constantly.

During the Time of Troubles, Malar stalked the length and breadth ofFaerûn. He is known to have battled Nobanion in the Gulthmere Forest ina fierce conflict known as the Roar of Shadows. The Beastlord was drivennorth and west by the Lion God working in an alliance with the EmeraldEnclave. When Malar appeared in the North, he was relentlessly pursued byGwaeron Windstrom and could not shake the Master of Tracking from histrail. The Beastlord did challenge and defeat Herne, a corrupted incarnationof the Master of the Hunt brought to, the Realms by an ancient wave of im-migrants along with Oghma and other powers. Herne was venerated by theorcs of the High Forest, and Malar has since assumed his portfolio.

In the aftermath of the Time of Troubles, Malar has been weakened bythe growing strength of Talos. As a result, he has been forced to seek newworshipers among the nonhuman tribes, and now numerous humanoidshave begun to venerate the Beastlord as an adjunct to their traditional pan-theons. Malar has also acquired additional human worshipers from the ranksof a few beast cults by slaying their totem spirits and assuming the animalspirits’ portfolios as aspects of his own. One of the first beast totems to fall tohis bloody talons was Blue Bear, an Uthgardt beast cult corrupted by perva-sive contact with lower planar beings and venerated in other lands as Ren-der, the Bear God.

Malar�s Avatar (Ranger 30, Druid I7)Malar favors two forms when he stalks the Realms. As the Beast, he appearsas a man-high catlike beast, sleek and supple in its movements. His ebonyfur is matted with blood, and his talons and fangs endlessly drip blood. TheBeast cannot and does not speak.

As the Master of the Hunt, also known as the Wild Hunter, malar ap-pears as a black-furred, 12-foot-tall humanoid with red eyes above a whuf-fling, flesh-draped hole rather than a nose and mouth, and a large rack ofantlers that he can use to slash or stab at targets. Malar can speak in thisform and can cause his antlers to melt away and reappear at will, allowinghim to avoid damage to his rack and to prevent opponents from trappinghim by ensnaring his antlers. The Master of the Hunt is typically accompa-nied by a pack of 21 dire wolves (winter wolves in polar regions) of thelargest possible size (maximum hit points).

Malar can cast spells from any sphere, although he favors spells from theanimal, combat, and summoning spheres. Malar often joins in the hunts hisclergy members promote—and when such a visitation occurs, his clergymembers seek to impress him with their reckless valor and often fling awayweapons to chase the quarry—frequently a bear, wolf, owlbear, or more fear-some monster—barehanded. Although Malar believes all creatures shouldlook after themselves and that all who hunt should also know the pain andfear of the hunted, he does dispense healing on such occasions, bestowingcurative magic through the burning-hot blood that drips from him.

Special Att/Def: In either form, Malar laughs like a deep-voiced giant. Heis an infallible hunter and tracker, bested only at tracking by Gwaeron Wind-strom and Mielikki. He can shape change at will between the Beast and Masterof the Hunt forms in one round, once per turn. In either form, the Beastlordcan cast monster summoning I, II, III, IV, V, VI, or VII once per round in addi-tion to casting a spell. Malar can always choose what sort of creatures respondto his summoning, but they are always some form of predator.

The Beast customarily pounces in battle so he can attack with all fourtalons in a round in addition to his bite. His bite inflicts lycanthropy (of arandom form of evil were-creature) at will. The Master of the Hunt attackswith his antler rack and his massive spear +3. On rolls of 4 or better morethan he needs to hit with his antlers, the Wild Hunter successfully gores fordouble damage. His magical spear vanishes if he lets go of it for any reasonand reappears in his hand at will.

Malar regenerates 5 points of damage per round. He heals 5d8 points ofdamage and regenerates mutilations by changing form from Beast to Masterof the Hunt or vice versa. He is immune to charm spells or spell-like effectsof any sort and cannot be forced to change physical form to any shape hedoes not wish to assume. Malar has no special effect on undead creaturesother than can be accomplished by his physical attacks or spells; however,undead beings of any sort (except deities) cannot harm him and avoid himinstinctively.

Other ManifestationsMalar prefers to manifest as a cloud of darkness in which two large, red, feraleyes gleam. From this cloud may issue forth his voice, bestial roars or snarls,or (most often) deep, snarling laughter.

Malar may also manifest as, or change in one round to, a disembodied,animated furry beast limb (akin to that conjured up by the beast claw spell,described below) that can point, draw symbols or write in the air in letters offloating, blazing blood, carry or manipulate items, or fight (raking for 3d4points of damage, striking twice per round at THAC0 -8, and having AC 0,MV Fl 21 (A), and 101 hp). An impossibly deep, bone-shaking snarl usuallyaccompanies this latter manifestation.

Malar acts frequently through all sorts of predators, particularly bears,wild hunting cats of all sorts, displacer beasts, fang dragons, jackalweres, gar-gantua, leucrotta (greater and lesser), evil lycanthropes, owlbears, perytons,wolfweres, wolverines, aurumvorae, wolves, and even (very rarely) the tar-rasque. He has been known to place appropriately seeded deepspawns in re-gions where predators and/or prey are scarce so as to ensure the hunt neverends.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, fighters, wizardsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No SP: No, F: No, W: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, F: No, W: NoAll clerics and specialty priests of Malar receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency. Malar’s clergy are required to take the hunt-ing nonweapon proficiency, and animal lore and tracking are both highlyrecommended. Clerics of Malar are allowed to use daggers.

Malar is not a popular god with many devoted followers. Like Umberlee,he is invoked usually to prevent his intercession (usually heralded by wildbeasts) as opposed to beseeching it. Groups devoted to following him arepresent, however, terrorizing civilized areas and surviving by poaching whatthey need.

Temples of Malar are simple affairs. Typically they are inwardly curving,fang-shaped stones arranged in a ring in shadowy forest glens. Many temples,particularly those located in more civilized settings where the activities ofMalarites are viewed with loathing by the local populace, are built above ex-tensive limestone caverns and accessed via a sinkhole in the circle’s center.The twisting subterranean passages serve as hunting grounds through whichruthless Malarites stalk sentient prey (particularly humans and demihu-mans) captured from the surrounding region.

The church of Malar is loosely bound and without a central hierarchy.This makes it all the more difficult to counter or remove, for as soon as oneden of Malarites is contained, another arises. The church organization isbuilt around the concept of the hunt, and consists of local, independentcells or “Hunts.” The leader and most powerful individual of each hunt isknown as the Huntmaster, who may be a priest, warrior, wizard (very rarely),or shapechanging predator (such as a wolfwere or evil lycanthrope). Ifhuman, the Huntmaster can be identified by his or her headpiece: usually abear, great cat, or other creature the leader has killed with his or her barehands. The office of Huntmaster is non by challenge—a fight to the death ifthe incumbent does not resign—and the Huntmaster decides the locale,time, and prey to be stalked in the ceremonial hunts of the faithful.

Malarite priests are known as Lords of the Hunt or Huntlords (to distin-guish them from lay followers, who are merely “of the Hunt”). No individualtitles are used, except “Old Hunter” as an address of respect to senior clergy,but clergy members are often known by names such as Brother Stag or SisterWolf in recognition of the most powerful beasts they have slain alone withonly their daggers, their bare hands, or claws of Malar. Specialty priests ofMalar are known as talons.

Dogma: Survival of the fittest and winnowing of the weak are Malar’slegacy. A brutal, bloody death has great meaning: “May you die an old man”is an insult among Malarites. The hunt is the fulcrum of life and death, andthe focus point of life is the challenge between the hunter and the prey, thejudgment of who may live or die. Malarites are expected to view every im-

portant task as a hunt and to remain ever alert and alive. They must walkthe wilderness without trepidation, as Malar does, and must show no fear inthe hunt. By being bold, they expect to win the day.

Malarite novices are charged as follows “Savagery and strong emotionsdefeat reason and careful thought in all things. The strong must slay as fre-quently as possible and exult in the doing if they are to survive and achievedominance of the pack that society truly is under the polite veneer it main-tains. Taste the blood of those you slay and never kill from a distance. Theglory and danger in the hunt should be told to all in grand tales. Workagainst woodcutters, farmers, and all fools who seek to cut back the forestand slay beasts because they are dangerous. Suffer no druid to live, for theybelieve not in survival of the strong, but in a weak-minded balance that al-lows the inferior to survive and often to rule. Slay not pregnant wild crea-tures, young wild animals, or deepspawns so that dire beasts to hunt may al-ways be plentiful.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Malar indulge in hunting as often aspossible and strive to route the hunt to make it as dangerous as possible, sothat its finale (the killing of the quarry) takes place in a settled area (so thatthe Malarites can demonstrate their superiority, of course). Common folkwho do not appreciate having desperate leucrotta, wolves, displacer beasts,and the like chased through town tend to hate and fear Malarite clergymembers—which is the whole idea: Those who do not venerate the Lord ofBeasts should respect him out of fear.

Malarite clergy members also preach the joys and the bountiful yields ofthe hunt and work to thwart the expansion of farms and settlements so as topreserve as much wilderness as possible. They work against the priesthoodsof Chauntea, Deneir, Eldath, Silvanus, and Ilmater, staging raids and van-dalism much as outlaws and bored young noblemen indulge in.

Malarite clergy seek to slay druids of all faiths whenever possible, for theysee the natural Balance that druids promote and maintain as the true foe ofall who love to hunt. They believe it interferes with the rightful triumph ofthe strong over the weak. Consequently, druid organizations, those withdruidic connections, and those sponsored even partially by nature deities(including the Harpers) also seek out and destroy Malarite strongholds atany opportunity.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Worship of Malar centers aroundthe hunt and tends to consist of personal prayers to the Beastlord offered be-fore the chase, during pursuit, and while drinking a toast over the slainquarry (sometimes a toast of the blood of the very animal killed). The dron-ing Bloodsong is intoned over the bodies of all creatures slain during ahunt—and specific ritual prayers and chants should accompany feasting onany beast slam during a hunt.

The only high rates of the faith are the Feast of the Stags and the HighHunts. The Feast is celebrated at Higharvestide, when Malarite clergy pa-rade through settled areas bearing the heads of the beasts they have slainduring the previous tenday (a frenzied orgy of killing) and lead all who desireto eat to a feast. The beasts hunted down by Malarite hands are the maindishes at this two-day-long revel of gluttony, and all folk are invited (evendruids may come and dine in safety, protected by “the Peace of the Table”).At this feast, clergy publicly undertake to hunt throughout the winter aheadfor the tables of specific widows, aged folk, infirm individuals, and orphanchildren. This day marks the annual high point of regard for the faith ofMalar in most communities.

By Malar’s command, every hunt (religious community) of his worshipersmust celebrate at least one High Hunt in each of the four seasons of the year.A High Hunt is a sporting event attended by all Malarite clergy membersable to walk. They wear boots and headpieces made from the skulls or headsof beasts they have personally slain, and each wields only a single knife orthe claws of Malar. Their quarry—a sentient humanoid, usually a humanmale—who is set free in a wooded area (or extensive cavern complex if nec-essary) ringed by Malarite clergy members. The quarry is armed and armoredwith all the nonmagical items he or she desires that can reasonably he ob-tamed—-and then hunted to death for the glory of Malar. However, if theprey escapes the boundaries of the hunt (set up at its beginning) within a dayand a night or survives until the sun has cleared the horizon on the morningafter the hunt begins, he or she wins freedom, can never be so hunted again,and can ask any boon of the Huntmaster that is within his or her power anddoes not involve killing a Malarite.

The prey is often a druid and cannot be a worshiper of Malar. (Huntmas-ters cannot use the High Hunt to eliminate potential rivals within theclergy.) When slain, victims of the hunt are wholly burned to ashes as a mealfor Malar.

Major Centers of Worship: The Divine Den in Bezentil, where HighHuntmaster Skith Tsornagar leads a congregation of 70 or so Malarite clergy

members and twice as many lay worshipers who are avid hunters, is the cen-ter of Malar’s faith in the Great Dale and all of Faerûn east of the DragonReach and north of Thay. The clergy members of the Divine Den mountmany hunting expeditions to remote and perilous regions of Toril in pursuitof exotic prey. A dozen skilled smiths among them make the True Talons ofthe God (approved claws of Malar).

The Deep Hunting Grounds in Undermountain beneath Mt. Waterdeepis a powerful and rapidly growing temple located amidst a subterranean for-est known as the Wyllowwood. Led by Benita Darkwind, the congregationof 60 or more priests and as many warriors, rogues, and lay worshipers is ac-tively expanding its influence throughout Undermountain and mountingincreasing numbers of hunts through the streets of Waterdeep.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Malar also includes lone priests unaf-filiated with any particular hunt. These solitary women and men, known asBeastmasters, exhibit an amazing rapport bordering on telepathy with ani-mals and other predators, and they are rumored to command fearsome pow-ers resembling those of powerful druids. Beastmasters resemble savage beastsin disposition and lifestyle and exert control over most predators in largeswaths of wilderness through the use of multiple, concurrent find companionspells. (Other clergy can only have one animal companion at a time.) Beast-masters only rarely call upon the aid of other Malarites in their territory, butwhen they do, few local Huntmasters defy their requests. There is a loosecorrelation between the geographic areas of influence of Beastmasters andcircles of druids in the wild. Individual Beastmasters and their servitors con-test in an endless cycle of violence with nearby druids.

Malar is also served by a few rare Beast Lords. Theselone spellcastersbreed unnatural monsters like bulettes, stegocentipedes, owlbears, perytons,and so forth. While most Beast Lords are human, a few are drawn from theranks of other races such as illithids and beholders. One prominent nonhu-man Beast Lord in the North is an illithilich, believed to be based in ruinedDekanter, who seeks to conquer part of the dark realms of the Underdarkwith an army of beasts.

Priestly Vestments: Huntmasters wear headpieces made from the peltand head of the mostimpressive beast they have beenable to slay with theirbare hands (usually a bear or great cat, but sometimes an owlbear, leucrotta,or peryton). Malarites carry hunting horns at their belts and are never with-out at least three daggers (usually one sheathed in each boot, two in beltsheaths, one strapped to either forearm, and another hidden in a nape-of-the-neck sheath under the hair or in an armpit sheath). Woodland garb ofred or brown is the favored dress for hunts. By day, red hunt clothing is oftenconcealed by a woodcloak of mottled black, gray, and green. Necklaces ofanimal bones, fangs, and claws and a variety of pelts are often worn in addi-tion to normal hunt clothes when priests desire to impress.

Adventuring Garb: When adventuring,priests of Malar dress practi-cally, but most favor armor constructed from the hides of living creaturesthat allows flexibility and rapid movement. Necklaces of claws and fangsand a variety of pelts from predator animals are often worn to quietlydemonstrate a Malarite’s hunting prowess to the members of a community.

Talons of Malar and Huntmasters are allowed to employ the weaponsknown as claws of Malar. Claws of Malar are metal weapons gripped in thefists that resemble brass knuckles studded with rows of sharp, jagged edgesalong the top like lion’s claws. A priest must allocate a weapon proficiencyfor these weapons in order to use them. A priest trained in their use canstrike once per round with each fist without disadvantage. Claws of Malarweigh 1 pound total (a half pound each), have a speed factor of 2, are size S,and inflict 1d6 points of piercing and slashing (Type P/S) damage to size S orM targets or 1d4 points of damage to size L or larger targets.

Although crude local specimens of these weapons exist, the best TrueTalons of theGod come from one sourcc: the Divine Den in Bezentil, themost important temple to the Lord of Beasts in all Faerûn. Claws from thissource are blessed in the blood of beasts slain in the hunt, enchanted tonever rust (even if touched by rust monsters or assaulted by spells thatshould make them rust), and bear tiny markings that allow the smiths whomade them to identify each pair. Other individuals can try to use the claws,but a nonbeliever or a nonpriest of Malar suffers the wrath of the church ifshe or he does so, and said wrath translates to the Malarites hunting downand slaying the individual as a warning to others.

Specialty Priests (Talons)RFQUIREMENTS: Strength 13, Wisdom 13PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : CEWEAPONS: All nonmissile bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons

daggers, and the claws of Malar

ARMOR: A n yM AJOR SPHERESS: All, animal, combat, healing, plant, summoning, sun,

war, weatherM INOR SPHERES: Divination, elemental, protection, travelersM AGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Animal lore, claws of MalarBONUS PROFS: Hunting×4 (for a Wisdom check modifier of +2), sur-

viva1 (pick one type of terrain)• A l though most ta lons a re human, the i r ranks inc lude renegade

wemics, half-orcs, half-ogres, and other evil humanoids.• Talons can select nonweapon proficiencies from both the priest and

warrior groups with no crossover penalty.• Talons can employ claws of Malar. These weapons are described under

Adventuring Garb, above. Claws of Malar are acquired through thechurch and are not normally for sale on the open market. Talons canattack twice a round using the claws of Malar at no penalty to their at-tack rolls, once with each hand/claw.

• At 3rd level, talons can identify plants, animals, and pure water with98% accuracy.

• At 3rd level, talons are able to cast beast claw (as the 2nd-level priestspell) once per day.

• At 5th level, talons can track any animal by its spoor. This is treatedas gaining the tracking nonweapon proficiency for free. If a talon is al-ready proficient in tracking, at 5th level she or he receives a +4 bonuswhen tracking wild animals.

• At 7th level, talons are immune to the effects of charm spells cast bywoodland creatures (similar to druids).

• At 7th level, talons can make three melee attacks every two rounds(or gain one extra attack per every two rounds with one claw ofMalar)

• At 10th level, talons can cast rage (as the 5th-level priest spell) or an-imal transfer (as the 6th-level priest spell) once per day.

• At 13th level, talons can make two melee attacks per round (or gainone extra attack per round with one claw of Malar).

Malarite Spells2nd LevelBeast Claw (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: The caster’s armsSaving Throw: NoneThis spell temporarily transforms the caster’s arms into extremely durablefurry limbs with raking talons and gives the caster 18/72 Strength so thatshe or he can rend and rake for 2d4+4 points of damage (total), strikingtwice per round (once with each clan, unless holding something) at a +2bonus to attack. The caster may employ a normal weapon with theselimbs if desired, but the limbs only convey their Strength bonus to suchattacks, and the caster otherwise follows all normal rules for attackingwith the held weapon.

The spell can be ended at any time at will so that the caster’s limbs in-stantly revert back to normal. The reversion banishes any damage done tothe limbs, wiping out both hit point damage and any mutilations or evenmagical witherings suffered.

The claws are as dexterous as the caster’s own hands and are capable ofmanipulating small objects and performing any delicate tasks the caster isnormally able to do. They are also immune to any magic that transformsphysical shape. In other words, if a foe polymorphed the caster into a frog,she or he would retain the two mighty limbs—or if the caster employedshape change to take another form, the beast claws and their limbs wouldremain.

4th LevelAnimal Sight (Alteration)Sphere: AnimalRange: TouchComponents: SDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One touched creatureSaving Throw: None

This spell is often employed by priests who have animal companions. Bycasting this spell upon an animal, the priest literally sees through thatcreature’s eyes. Wherever the animal travels for the duration of the spell,the priest sees whatever it sees.

tack per round and gains 10 hit points immediately; if these hit pointswould exceed the individual’s normal hit point maximum, theexcess hitpoints disappear when the spell expires. Further, the affected individualgains a +1 bonus on initiative and a +2 bonus on saving throws madewhile the spell is in effect.During the time the priest is employing this spell, she or he must be

stationary and concentrate on the animal. Damage caused to the priest Despite the battle fervor, the enraged creature can tell friend from foewith a successful Intelligence ability check at a -2 penalty. However, en-raged creatures are so intent on combat that they cannot cast spells.

interrupts the spell.This spell is especially useful when the priest wishes to spy on other in-

dividuals or discover the lay of a territorybefore entering it personally. After the spell elapses, the formerly enraged individual is exhaustedand must rest 1 full turn by lying down and not moving before engaging incombat or other stressful activities again.Find Companion (Conjuration/Summoning)

Sphere:Range:Components:Duration:

Animal1 mile/two levels of caster 6th Level

Animal Transfer (Alteration)Sphere: AnimalRange: 60 yardsComponents: V, S

V, S, MSpecial

Casting Time: 1 hourArea of Effect: 1 animal companionSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell is similar to the 1st-level wizard spell find familiar, but it is insome respects more powerful. Priests casting this spell are attempting tosummon animals for aid and companionship. Like wizards, priests caneach have only one companion at a time, and they have no control overwhat creatures answer the spell call unless they couple find companionwith an animal summoning.

Duration:Casting Time:

3 turns +1 turn/level

Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: SpecialCastingthis spell transfers the priest’s mind into the body of a designatedanimal. The priest gains all the senses and abilities of the animal, includ-ing its hit points, Armor Class, and movement rate, and is in full com-mand of the animal form. For example, a Driest could elect to transfer hisor her mind into the body of a hawk and fly over an area to determine itsterrain, occupants, and other conditions in the locale.

No matter the creature summoned, it has greater Intelligence and alonger life span than others of its kind. Priestcompanions have an Intel-ligence of 4 or 5. Priests gain theheightenedsenses of their companion,granting them a +1 bonus to all surprise rolls. While the spell is in effect, the priest’s body is motionless and vulner-

able. The priest is unaware of his or her body or anything that might behappening to it. The animal’s mind is suppressed throughout the durationof the spell.

Priests are linked to the animal companion telepathically and can giveit directions telepathically or verbally. In return, the priests can under-stand the thoughts and sounds of their animal companion as if they wereusing a speak with animals spell. If the priest’s body is killed, the priest’s mind is stuck in the animal’s

body until the animal dies or a wish is cast to alter the Driest’s situation. Ifthe animal dies while thespell is in effect, the priest’s mind returns to hisor her body and she or he suffers 1d12 points of damage and must make asuccessful Wisdom ability check or suffer a mild form of insanity for anumber of rounds equal to the elapsed time of the spell. If affected by thismild insanity, the priest behaves as if she or he were the animal, terrifiedand hurt, and hisses, spits, moves about on all fours or as if trying to fly,howls, meows, or otherwise vocalizes as the animal, and is generally un-controllable until the insanity passes.

If the companion is separated from its linked priest by more than amile for more than one day, it loses 1 hit point a day until itdies.

Unlike a wizard’s familiar, a priest’s companion does not gain thepriest’s saving throws. Further, the priest does not suffer physical damageif the companion dies.

The spell can be cast on warm-blooded creatures of animal intelli-gence or less; the creatures do not receive a saving throw. Animals ofgreater intelligence, such as blink dogs, displacer beasts, animal compan-tons, and other such creatures, receive a saving throw vs. spell. A success-ful saving throw means the spell was wasted, and the animal was unaf-fected. Animal transfer cannot be used to transfer into the body of an-other priest’s animal companion or a wizard’s familiar. Such attempts al-ways fail and waste the spell.

Priests can attempt to find a companion once a month until they aresuccessful. The process involves an hour-long prayer session inwhich apriest must ask his or her deity for a companion and burn 100 gp worth ofincense during the process. (At this point, roll 1d20 on the table below.)Immediately after the spell is completed, a priest knows if she or he wassuccessful. The companion arrives at the spot the spell was cast within1d4 hours if the spell was successful.

d20 Roll Companion1-3 Wild dog

Sensory PowersSmell, hearing

4 - 6 Eagle Distance vision7-9 Wild boar Smell, hearing

10-12 Fox Smell, hearing12-15 Giant rat Night vision16-18 Badger Smell19-20 No companion available —

7th LevelFaithful Mount (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: Animal, CharmRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 turnArea of Effect: One touched creatureSaving Throw: Neg.Casting this spell places a mount under a powerful magic that combinesthe effects of charm mammal and speak with animals. The mount remainsloyal to the priest who cast the spell, and the two can converse as if undera permanent speak with animals spell. Further, the mount receives a +3bonus to saving throws against fear spells and effects and additional charmmammal spells or effects directed at it after faithful mount is cast upon it.

Mounts that can be affected include horses, ponies, mules, donkeys,camels, rhinoceroses, elephants, giant stags, griffons, hippogriffs, pegasi,unicorns, and other animals that can be ridden. The mount is allowed asaving throw vs. spell, with a +2 bonus if it has greater than animal intel-ligence (Intelligence 1) and magical defense adjustment modifications ifit has an exceptional Wisdom. Success means the animal is not affectedby the spell, nor can it be affected by subsequent castings of the spell bythe same priest.

The material component for the spell is a lump of sugar.

in range

If the priest strikes the companion or withholds its food, the spell fails,at which time the companion is no longer held and can freely depart.That kind of animal will never again become a companion to that priest.

A priest’s companion typically has 3d4 hit points plus 1 hit point perlevel of the summoning priest and an Armor Class of 7.

5th LevelRage (Alteration)Sphere: CombatRange: TouchComponents: VDuration: 1 turn +1 round/levelCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: One touched creatureSaving Throw: NoneCasting this spell invokes a battle rage that temporarily raises Strength,combat abilities, and hit points. The affected individual’s Strength israised to 18, regardless of racial maximums and to 19 if the individualal-ready has a Strength of 18. The affected individual gains an additional at-

Mask(Master of All Thieves, Shadowlord, Lord of Shadows)Lesser Power (previously Intermediate Power and brieflyDemipower) of the Gray Waste, NEPORTFOLIO:ALIASES:DOMAIN NAME:SUPERIOR:ALLIES:

Thieves, thievery, shadowsNoneNiflheim/Shadow KeepNoneBane (now dead), Bhaal (now dead), Leira (now dead),Ibrandul (now dead)

FOES: Helm, Oghma, Torm, Tyr, Cyric, Selûne, Waukeen(missing), Deneir

SYMBOL: A black velvet mask, tinged with redWOR. ALIGN.: NG, CG, LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE

Mask (MASK) was the deity of intrigue along withbeing the patron of thieves, but his disastrous perusalof the Cyrinishad led to Cyric being able to steal thisaspect of his portfol io from him. One school ofthought believed the god totally destroyed after read-ing the Cyrinishad and having his Godsbane avatarform destroyed by Cyric, another held that Mask was

totally subsumed by Cyric, and a third school believedthat Mask, engaged in his own intrigues, faked his loyalty to Cyric and laterhis own death. The truth is that Mask survived the enslaving effects of theCyrinishad and the destruction of a major avatar form at great cost, losingmuch of his godly power in the process.

Mask had allowed his intrigue with Cyric to progress so far that he hadneglected his own worshipers and was effectively but a lesser power when hitby the effects of the Cyrinishad. When forced to cut away part of his divinepower, leaving it in Cyric’s hands, Mask was temporarily reduced to the sta-tus of a demipower. To make matters worse, Mask crossed a powerful extra-planar entity known as Kezef the Chaos Hound, who has sworn eternal re-venge. Mask cannot remain too long in one location or Kezef catches up tohim, and Mask does not wish to confront the Chaos Hound until he regainsthe status of an intermediate power that he had just after the Godswar. Suchis the price of intrigue, a price that Mask has paid dearly. (The ChaosHound’s chase has slowed somewhat of late, though, as it becomes distractedby the new-found joys of freedom after so many years of imprisonment.)

Mask’s form is ever-changing in regard to appearance—and his true formis not known for sure. Mask remains the patron of thieves, and there hisfaith is strongest. After a year of frenzied activity by his priests on his behalf(at his encouragement), Mask has taken shadows into his portfolio andmanaged to climb to the status of lesser power. However, Mask is still aweakened power and walks (or runs, when the Chaos Hound is abroad)carefully in his dealings with the other powers. For the time being, he wantsto remain out of the sight (and hopefully out of the mind) of Cyric, whomight still covet his remaining power, but he is already plotting ways andmeans to regain that which he lost to the Mad God.

Mask is very self-possessed and confident—too confident for his owngood. He enjoys erecting convoluted and intricate plots to achieve his endsand then playing them out to his benefit. As he has recently learned, how-ever, such predilections proved a weakness for him, and he is now tryingmuch more direct methods to accomplish his goals than before in order toavoid such needless—and unwanted—plot twists as nearly cost him his lifeand his godhood in his manipulations of Cyric.

Mask�s Avatar (Thief 30, Illusionist 27, Cleric 14)Although Mask usually appears in one of his temples in avatar form as a sar-donic, slightly built human male clad in soft gray leather armor, wearing ablack mask tinged with red and a black cloak (and some sages believe this ishis true or chosen form), he may also appear as a soft-spoken human femalewith glowing pale skin, white starry lights for eyes, and floor-length, dark hairwho walks barefoot and is always shrouded in shadowlike gloom. In public,Mask’s form is ever-changing: human, halfling, or dwarf; male or female; andof all ages, builds, and strengths. (For instance, many legends speak about sus-pected encounters with Mask among planar travelers and priests of Maskalike. People are never quite sure if who they met was Mask—or really Burl-stone Ironfist the dwarf, as he claimed, for instance.) Whatever his form,Mask’s tread and movements make no sound and leave no trail.

Prior to the whole Cyrinishad debacle, one of Mask’s avatar forms wasthe rose-red sword Godsbane carried by Cyric, but this avatar was destroyedwhen Cyric broke the sword. Mask has shown no sign of using a similarform since.

Mask is said to have matchless grace and dexterity, and is easily able topluck thrown weapons out of the air, vault across chasms to plunge throughsmall windows or to catch hold of tiny ledges, and perform various intricatetasks in midair while falling or tumbling. The Lord of Shadows is wary, evenparanoid (always spying on faithful and foes alike), and never seems to losehis temper; he always speaks calmly and even sardonically, as if mockinghumor always lurks behind every phrase.

Mask can draw spells from any sphere and from the schools of illusion, al-teration, lesser and greater divination, enchantment/charm, and conjura-tion/summoning. He prefers using illusions with shadow effects or aspects.

AC -3; MV 15, leap 20; HP 168; THAC0 6; #AT 1Dmg 1d8+5 (Stealthwhisper, +1 STR)MR 70%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 16, DEX 25, CON 19, INT 24, WIS 20, CHA 22Spells P: 9/9/8/7/3/2/1, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6*Saves PPDM 5, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

*Numbers assume one extra Illusion spell per spell level.

Special Att/Def: When he uses a weapon in combat, Mask prefers a longsword +4 named Stealthwhisper. When Mask wishes, he can shrink Stealth-whisper to the size of a dagger or enlarge it to the size of a two-handed sword,but it always behaves as a long sword for damage purposes. Stealthwhisper isalways completely silent, reflects no light from its black blade, and cannotbe made to rust or corrode (from acid damage, for instance). It functions inMask’s hands as a sword of quickness and a sword of wounding. It causes seven

times normal damage when used to backstab. Mask has never been knownto loan his sword to anyone, but occasionally gifts faithful worshipers andpriests with magical daggers +1 blessed by him to never make noise, rust, orreflect light.

Mask is so dexterous that he can turn any movement into a tumblingroll, a graceful leap, or even briefly seem to hang in the air if it serves hisbest advantage. He can even snatch missiles from the air and redirect themto those who fired them as if wearing gloves of missile snarring, with any handthat is not swinging Stealthwhisper. Because of his phenomenal dexterous-ness, Mask receives a saving throw of 10 for even physically damaging ef-fects that do not normally allow a saving throw if magic should penetratehis magic resistance.

Mask sometimes wears a cloak of shadows that allows him to become in-visible, fly (at MV FL 24 (A)) andgives his form the appearance of anyonehe should choose to duplicate. He has been known to loan the cloak to hisfaithful worshipers so that they can perform missions for him or in his name

Mask’s touch opens locks, causes manacles, chains, and bindings to crum-ble and fall away, and allows faithful worshipers to he protected for a day byan ironguard spell. (See Pages From the Mages or FORGOTTEN REALMS Adven-tures for this spell. Basically, ironguarded creatures can pass through metal,be it the bars of a cell or a stabbing sword, without taking harm or beingslowed by the contact; however, equipment they may be carrying is not af-fected in this way.) He can become invisible at will; however, he prefers tofade into a shadowy form and blend in with shadows.

Mask unconsciously exudes a constant aura that eliminates all immunityto illusions and other spells caused by high Intelligence or Wisdom abilityscores within a 360-foot-radius of him (except in deities). Mask is immuneto spells, spell-like abilities, or effects that charm, cause fear, or affect the

mind to work against its will. His intent cannot be discerned by mortal ordeity (and neither can his alignment) as his mind is his own unless he wishesto let someone see its thoughts and memories. The incredible power of theCyrinishad was the only force that has ever defeated this ability, and that itcould was a costly and perturbing discovery for Mask, who has since furtherfortified his mental and emotional defenses.

Other ManifestationsMask sometimes appears as a drifting, amorphous darkness, that may or maynot have or grow a cowled human head. He also manifests as whispery, soft,chuckling laughter or an utterly black, nailless human hand that can carry orwield items, point, emit dust and write in it, or grasp and choke beings atTHAC0 7, chilling and strangling for 4d4 points of damage and preventingforward movement, speech, or spellcasting, but always releasing the foe at theend of a round. (This hand cannot be struck except by magical weapons of +2or better enchantment; it has an AC of -1, 14 HD, and 72 hit points.) Thecloud of darkness can enter or pass through any known barrier without takingharm, but vanishes if struck by spells dealing 20 points of damage or more.The touch of these manifestations opens locks, causes manacles, chains, andbindings to crumble and fall away, and allows faithful worshipers to be pro-tected for a day by an ironguard spell, just as the touch of Mask’s avatar does.

Mask also acts through the appearance or presence of annis (hags),dopplegangers, ettercaps, kenku, verbeeg, wererats, werewolves, werefoxes,shadow monsters (creatures as from the wizard spell shadow monsters madepermanent by the power of Mask), shadow dragons, and undead shadows.More commonly he sends a shadow where there should be none, smoke-grayhorses, iron-gray or black cats, gray dogs, gloomwing moths or tenebrousworms, gray goats, vapor flowers, smoky quartz, gray chalcedony, gray andbanded onyx, ravenar, rogue stone, common crows, condors, and gray dovesto show his favor or displeasure and as a sign to inspire his faithful.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, thievesCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, if neutral, SP: No, T: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, if evil, SP: No, T: NoAll clerics and specialty priests of Mask receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.

dwarves croon over gold; they actively use it to buy agents, bribe officials,sway agreements, and manipulate folk to do thus and so, working behind thescenes to achieve mysterious ends. The mark of a successful priest of Mask isto state to a superior that this or that end (in international politics or the do-ings within a realm) will be worked toward and achieved within such-and-such a time�and then fulfill this promise. Maskarran who fail in theirpromises seldom rise far in the hierarchy, though several attempts at bring-ing something about are perfectly acceptable so long as none of them too ob-viously reveal the priest at work behind the scenes.

From day-to-day Maskarran typically tend to their plots and provide sup-port to and collect tithes from individual thieves and thieves� guilds. Eachchurch of Mask has its own policy about reporting �rogue� thieves to theguild of a region: Some provide aid but covertly inform the local guild,others refuse aid and inform, and still others provide aid to whoever pays theproper tithe and inform no one,

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: There are no calendar-related rit-uals in the Church of Mask, but at every full temple of the god, the Ritual of

The followers of Mask have been reduced to their central core: thievesand thieves� guilds. (However, in addition to thieves and more shadowy in-dividuals, courtiers and diplomats have also been known to evoke the Shad-owlord�s name in hope of guaranteeing a smooth negotiation.) Many guildsstill have their shrines to the god, and in those regions where thievery is notactively frowned upon, temples to Mask survive. The priesthood of Mask isindependent in each major city or region to prevent the frequent actionsagainst one thieves� guild or temple from spilling over and affecting others.The hierarchy makes use of clerics, specialty priests, and thieves in about a30/40/30 ratio. Clergy of Mask are known as Maskarran. Specialty priests ofMask are called demarchesses (deh-mar-KESS-es) if female and demarchs(deh-MARKS) if male. There has been a significant increase in the numberof specialty priests in the faith since Mask lost status as a deity; he feels thatspecialty priests are the most effective adjunct to the thieves who are hismainstay of worship and so has been furiously encouraging their recruitmentand advancement by gifting them with more special abilities than before.

the Unseen Presence is celebrated at least once a month. This ritual is an ac-knowledgment in chanted verse, hymns, and offerings of wealth�coinagestolen by the faithful that is melted down in altar-flanking braziers or cru-cibles�of the constant regard of Mask, who sees all deeds, however wellhidden.

Lay worshipers and Maskarran also participate in daily Sunset Prayers, inwhich they kneel, proffer coins to the clergy and worship before the Altar ofthe Masked God. Praying junior clergy members give coins to senior clergymembers, and the highest-ranking priest of a holy house of Mask gives his orher coin to the lowest-ranking priest present in recognition of the wryhumor of Mask, who so often makes the high low, and the low high. TheAltar of the Masked God is always a massive stone block over which floatsan enspelled black velvet, fur, or silk mask of giant size (6 feet across ormore) or which has a mosaic in inlaid precious gemstones of a similar giantmask behind it.

In areas with a single strong thieves� guild, the temple or shrine to Maskis usually connected to the guild hall via underground tunnels. In large citieswith competing guilds, the temple is in an underground location and is rec-ognized as neutral ground by all sides. Maskarran strive to keep hidden thesedays, sometimes holding services of worship in underground shrines (oftencellars reached by old sewers) and often keeping hidden inside local thieves�guilds. It is to the advantage of such seasoned conspirators as Maskarran thatmany folk of Faerûn think Mask is dead, and his worship reduced to scat-tered, bewildered cults.

The Church of Mask has darker rituals associated with the elevation ofclergy members in rank known only to the initiated. These secret obser-vances and the Ritual of the Unseen Presence are always guarded by strik-ing shadows spells cast by senior clergy members to slay or keep away eaves-droppers.

Maskarran address each other as �Brother/Sister Shadow,� regardless ofrank, and hold the titles (in order of rank): Unproven (novices), ProvenBrother/Sister, Veteran Brother/Sister, and Master Brother/Sister, with theleader of a temple assuming the title Lord/Lady Master. The elite of Maskar-ran are largely specialty priests, but nonspecialty priest high priests areknown as Hidden Ones.

Dogma: All that which occurs within shadow is in the purview of Mask.Ownership is nine-tenths of what is right, and if a person happens to cur-rently have something, it is his or hers. Previous ownership does not count.Therefore, the day belongs to the quick, the smooth-tongued, and the light-fingered. Stealth and wariness are virtues, as are glibness and the ability tosound smooth-tongued and conciliatory while taking control of a situationor twisting it to your advantage. (Needless to say, the writings of a true fol-lower of Mask can be read in many ways.)

Major Centers of Worship: The House of the Master�s Shadow inTelflamm, where Lord Master Most Hidden Jalaunther Ithbreeiur leads over300 Maskarran in worship, is the largest temple to Mask in Faerûn. Jalaun-ther has initiated several energetic programs designed to build the ranks ofMask�s faithful, including a network of undercover contacts in all majorcities of Faerûn who double as information-gatherers and the spreaders of ru-mors about this or that treasure (to attract the interest of those interested inthievery). These agents, known as �local shadows,� identify importantthieves and those rebellious to authority and approach both of these sorts offolk to recruit them to the faith or at least offer them training�for fees�inthievery or intrigue. Jalaunther has also set his clergy members the twintasks of building their temple magic (including the spells they are currentlyresearching) into a network of powerful, practical stealth and battle magicand working themselves into positions where they can influence the politicsof all realms in Faerûn behind the scenes. Needless to say, these ambitiousgoals are achieving success only slowly.

Affiliated Orders: The church of the Shadowlord has no affiliated

The Unproven in the church of Mask are charged as follows: �Wealthrightfully belongs to those who can acquire it. Strive to end each day withmore material wealth than you began it with, but steal what is most vital,not everything that is to hand. Honesty is for fools, but apparent honesty isa very valuable thing. Make every untruth seem plausible, and never liewhen you can cleave to the truth but leave a mistaken impression�a bridgeburned means much rebuilding if you need to cross over there again. Sub-tlety is everything. A bribe is the least subtle of the tools Mask gives to us.Never force someone to do something when you can manipulate them intodoing it and thinking the decision and the deed are entirely their own free-willed work. Never do the obvious, except to conceal a secondary or tertiarydeed or arrangement. Spin secrets atop secrets, but do so unconcernedly, notwith the sly excitement of untutored youth. Trust in the shadows, for thebright way makes for easy targets.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Maskarran are perhaps the wealthiest clergy inthe Realms, second only to those of Waukeen before the Time of Troubles.They able to call on untold wealth stolen in the past and hidden away in se-cret places. Maskarran do not hoard and gloat over their takings like

on particularly hard times, the gray cloak and mask only are worn as a sym-bol of the Shadowlord�s favor.

knightly orders. Members of the clergy who have pulled off a particularlydaring heist or intricate piece of manipulation of people and events are oftenadmitted (voted on by acclamation at a secret yearly meeting of members ofthe order) to the Circle of the Gray Ribbon. Many thieves� guilds (as well asindividual thieves) throughout Faerûn have connections to the church andrely on it for medical and tactical support.

Priestly Vestments: Maskarran wear no badges of rank nor differingvestments, but all senior clergy members strive to purchase, have made, or(preferably) steal such useful items as slippers of spider climbing, teleport rings,rings of shadow (that generate darkness 15� radius at will of a sort that theirwearers can see through), rings of invisibility, wands of viscid globs, ropes of en-tanglement, and protective garments enchanted to provide feather fall protec-tion (as well as a wide array of enchanted weapons and armor).

Ceremonial Maskarran dress consists of tunics and trousers in a brightmotley. The tunics sport ballooned sleeves and cuffs and bright embroidery,displaying wealth. The entire outfit is covered with a full-length, hoodedgray cloak that can be drawn shut to hide the bright color beneath. A blackcloth mask is worn beneath the hood. In some areas where Mask has fallen

Inside a temple of Mask, the masks are of black gauze and do not concealthe identity of the wearer; in public, such masks are usually thick, black woolor heavy, double-thick silk and extend to cover most of the face in an effec-tive disguise. (A bearded priest, for example, would have a mask that ex-tended well down over the chin.) There is a saying that “the degree of law ina town can be seen on the face of a priest of Mask.”

Adventuring Garb: Priests of Mask are encouraged to hide their truenature and masquerade as other priests or commoners. Normal dress for cler-ics of Mask is similar to that of any merchant, craftsperson, or adventurer inthe area or similar to that of any armored battle cleric or itinerant adventur-ing cleric of any faith. Specialty priests of Mask usually dress as thieves inleather or other light armor or assume the guise of typical peasants onemight meet on any town’s or village’s streets.

Specialty Priests (Demarchs/Demarchesses)REQUIREMENTS: Dexterity 14, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Dexterity, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : N EWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons plus knife,

dagger, and hand crossbowARMOR: Lea ther , padded lea ther (padded a rmor ) , s tudded

leather, or elven chain mail; no shieldMAJOR SPHERES: All, astral, charm, combat, divination, guardian, heal-

ing, protection, sun, timeMINOR SPHERES: Elemental, necromantic, summoning, thought, weatherMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, plus devices that can only be used by

thievesREQ. PROFS: DisguiseBONUS PROFS: Forgery, modern languages (pick one), reading lips• Demarchs and demarchesses have some thieving skills. They have the

thieving skill base scores as set out in the Player’s Handbook (includingDexterity, race, and armor adjustments), but gain no initial discretionarypoints. Each time a demarch or demarchess gains a level, 20 points maybe applied to thieving skills. No more than 15 points may be assigned toa single skill. Demarchs and demarchesses cannot backstab as a thief, nordo they ever gain the ability to use magical scrolls that a thief does.

• Demarchs and demarchesses can select nonweapon proficiencies fromboth the priest and rogue groups with no crossover penalty.

• Demarchs and demarchesses underatand and use thieves’ cant.• Demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast darkness (as the reverse of

the 1st-level priest spell light) once a day• Demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast Lorloveim’s creeping shadow

(as the 3rd-level wizard spell) and shadowcloak (as the 3rd-level priestspell) once a tenday.

• At 3rd level, demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast shadow door (asthe 5th-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 5th level, demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast shadow monstersas the 4th-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 7th level, demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast demi-shadowmonsters or seeming (as the 5th-level wizard spells) once a day.

• At 10th level, demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast shades (as the(6th-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 13th level, demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast Lorloveim’sshadowy transformation (as the 6th-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 15th level, demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast shadowcat (asthe 7th-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 20th level, demarchs and demarchesses are able to cast shadow walk orvanish (as the 7th-level wizard spells) once a day.

Maskarran Spells3rd LevelListening Shadow (Alteration, Divination)Sphere: DivinationRange: 1 mile/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 60-foot-radius sphereSav ing Throw: NoneThis spell creates a mobile shadow that transmits sounds within 60 feet of itslocation to its caster (similar to, but by no means exactly like, the wizardspell clairaudience) The locale being listened to need not be known. Theshadow need not be man-shaped, but it is always of approximately the samecubic volume as the caster. It can squeeze through any hole that one of the

caster’s hands, up to the wrist, could pass through, and the caster can changeits shape at will. The shadow glides along the ground or floor at MV 15,feather falling gently to earth if it moves over a sudden drop-off. It cannot flyor rise except by moving up a stair, or climbing a wall, rock face, or inclinethat the caster could traverse.

The caster can simply send the shadow this spell creates a certain dis-tance in such-and-such a direction and listen at that spot or even let theshadow move for the spell duration and listen as it travels. If creatures beinglistened to move beyond 60 feet from the heart of the shadow, the priest canmove the shadow as many times as desired to try to pick them up again, butthe direction and distance moved has to be guesswork unless the priest is sit-uated so as to overlook the shadow. The shadow is visible, and will no doubtattract attention if it moves, stops, moves again, and appears to follow be-ings—especially when no shadow should be present.

The range of this spell denotes how distant the shadow can be from thecaster before it dissipates. Although the shadow must initially appear within300 feet of the caster, both it and the caster can move during the duration ofthe spell, and the caster can employ other magics without ending the listen-ing shadow. (The caster could teleport away from where the shadow was castand maintain contact with it so long as his or her new location is still withinspell range.)

Some senior priests of Mask have access to powerful magics that allow alistening shadow to teleport to another or even a succession of locales, listen-ing in to each one for a time; certain Maskarran clergy are quite practiced atskipping from one end of a long-range conversation that is being conductedby magical means to another to try to hear most of what is said by all speak-ers involved. Those who know how can cast a modified tongues spell on a lis-tening shadow (which must be touched directly by the caster at the time) sothat although the shadow transmits actual speech and sounds, a simultane-ous translation is heard as well in the caster’s head alone.

The presence of lead or gorgon’s blood in walls (or their mortar) serves asa barrier against the listening linkage of shadow to caster, but the caster re-tains control of the spell effect. If the shadow can then he moved to a spotwhere there is no effective intervening barrier, the sound link is restored.Only sounds that are normally detectable by the caster can be heard by thisspell, and it only functions on its caster’s current plane of existence.

Shadowcloak (Alteration)Sphere: Sun, ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 10-foot-radius amorphous (though usually spherical)

cloudSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a semisolid fog of amorphous shape that is centered on thecaster or a single touched spell recipient being and moves with that being tohide him or her completely from view. In bright conditions, a rolling, roilingmoving cloud of shadow can readily be seen, concealing only the spell recip-ient’s precise identity, but in darkness, an unsuspicious observer is only 15%likely to think something is amiss with what she or he is seeing (darkness)and a successful Intelligence ability check must still be made to reach a deci-sion that something is certainly unusual and that it is more or less at such-and-such a spot.

A shadowcloak both confuses attackers with its swirling, smoky chaos, andslows strikes, so that all attacks against the shadowcloak - user occur at a -3 at-tack penalty and a damage penalty of -1 point per die. The shadowcloak alsomuffles all sounds made by the cloaked being (regardless of that being’s de-sires) so that even shouted speech seems faint and distant, and all soundsshort of breakage or metallic ringing or clinking are very likely to be com-pletely blanked out.

Torches, fire, smoke, and magical radiances are unaffected by contactwith a shadowcloak spell, but they in turn have no effect on it and do notforce it to part or light up its gloom. An observer outside a shadowcloakwould be able to see the presence of a light source inside a shadowcloak be-cause it would lighten the dark appearance of the fog around it to a lightgray—but the observer would not be able to see other things within theshadowcloak because the light source illuminated them.

To the caster of a shadowcloak and to any other creatures present who arebearing consecrated holy symbols of Mask, its borders appear as a slight hazyshimmering in the air, but no darkness is apparent. The spell does not affectthe vision and combat abilities of such beings.

4th LevelWatching Shadow (Alteration)Sphere: DivinationRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: Specia1Saving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a mobile shadow that sends its caster visual information(similar to, but by no means exactly like, a wizard eye spell). The localebeing watched need not be known to the caster of the spell. The shadowneed not he man-shaped, but it is always of approximately the same cubicvolume as the caster. It can squeeze through any hole that one of the caster’shands, up to the wrist, could pass through, and the caster can change itsshape at will. (Quite specific forms can be taken, so that the shadow canpoint like a hand, etc.) The shadow glides along the ground or floor at MV15, feather falling gently to earth if it moves over a sudden drop off. It cannotfly, or rise except by moving up a stair, or climbing a wall, rock face, or in-cline that the caster could traverse.

The caster can move the shadow wherever desired, seeing in any direc-tion from it by silent effort of will. The shadow is visible, and will no doubtattract attention if it moves, stops, moves again, and appears to follow be-ings—especially when no shadow should be present—but there is no visibleeye or other indication that the caster is watching through the shadow. Thecaster’s mind cannot be contacted by beings employing magic or psionics onthe shadow. The caster can see out of the shadow as far and as well as if hisor her own eyes were present where the shadow is and the gloom of theshadow was not.

The presence of lead or gorgon’s blood in walls (or their mortar) serves asa barrier against the viewing linkage of shadow to caster, but the caster re-tains control of the spell effect. If the shadow can be moved “blind” to a spotwhere there is no effective intervening barrier, the visual link is restored.Watching shadow only functions on its caster’s current plane of existence.

Unlike a listening shadow, a watching shadow, spell ends instantly if itscaster undertakes any other spellcasting.

6th LevelStriking Shadows (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: GuardianRange: 10 yards/1evelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: A 20-square-feet/level contiguous areaSaving Throw: NoneStriking shadows creates two tentacled, smokelike guardian monsters identi-cal to worker grell (see the MONSTROUS MANUAL accessory) in form, at-tacks (11 attacks at THAC0 15—10 tentacles and one bite), damage(ld4[10 times]/ld6), Armor Class (AC 5), and movement (MV Fl 12 (D)).However, these shadow creatures’ tentacles cannot paralyze, and they areunable to wield or carry items, speak, or reason. Striking shadows attack allbeings within the spell’s designated area of effect that are not bearing holysymbols of Mask. They dissipate when the spell expires or when dealt asmany hit points of damage (each) as the caster possesses.

Mielikki

ing the Time of Troubles, she also gathered autumn into her portfolio, awayfrom the dead Myrkul, She is worshiped by humans, elves, half-elves, anddryads alike. The Lady of the Forest is fond of wandering the woods of all ofFaerûn, although her faithful are concentrated in northern Faerûn.

Mielikki (My-LEE-kee) is the Lady of the Forest, thegoddess of the woods and those creatures who livewithin them She is the patron of rangers in the sameway that Oghma is the patron of bards. Until recentlyMiellkki made her home on the Prime Material plane,and so was unharmed by the Time of Troubles, thoughthe presence of so many other gods in the Realms gaveher followers great difficulties. In the confusion follow-

Mielikki is allied with and in the serviced of Silvanus, and with the grow-ing power of that god she was being diminished in her own right. In 1369DR, she radically reorganized her priesthood, and the boost in power thisgave her has forestalled her decline and allowed her to establish her ownrealm in the Outer Planes for the first time. Her followers had already addedthe title “Daughter to Silvanus” to her other names previous to this point asan honorarium, causing some confusion since she is not Silvanus’s daughter.Inaccurate legends have since grown up to explain the title in whichMielikki is said to be the offspring of dalliance between Silvanus andHanali Celanil, the elf goddess of romantic love and beauty.

Mielikki serves Silvanus alongside Eldath. She considers Eldath to be al-most her sister, and Silvanus a father figure. All three powers work closely andlovingly together, and this relationship is reflected in their churches andclergy also. Mielikki herself is assisted by three divine beings of lesser power:Lurue, Gwaeron Windstrom, and Shiallia. On rare occasions when Mielikkirides into battle, Lurue the Unicorn serves as her mount, and Gwaeron Wind-Strom, who can track infallibly through any conditions, in or on any terrain,aids her on some missions and teaches her rangers the way to read forest signs.Shiallia, a local nature deity of the High Forest, serves her as the midwife topregnant forest creatures, the planter of seeds, and the nurturer of seedlings inthat forest. In addition, Lady Jeryth Phaulkon of Waterdeep, the Chosen Starof Mielikki, serves as Mielikki’s mortal champion. She has been gifted byMielikki with unknown powers and is referred to in the faith as Our Lady’sChampion or the Granddaughter of Silvanus. Though still fairly young, shehas quickly matured from a frivolous debutante into a steadfast forest warrior.

Mielikki is good-humored and quick to smile. She is confident in her ac-tions and conveys this confidence well in small groups, though she dislikesspeaking formally or leading large contingents. She is fiercely loyal and pro-tective to those she calls friend, but does not grant that considerationlightly. Though she knows that some creatures must die to make way forothers in life, she finds the injuries of animals and other friends hard to bearand often cures hurt creatures that Silvanus would leave be to fuel the cycleof death and rebirth.

Mielikki�s Avatar (Ranger 35, Druid 25, Mage I8)Mielikki always walks on air, her soundless feet never quite touching theground and thus leaving no tracks. She prefers to appear as the SupremeRanger— a tall, shapely, robust woman who moves with a lithe grace, clad inthe leather armor used by many rangers. Her garb is muted green and brownin hue, her russet hair hangs free about her shoulders and down her black, andher eyes are large, deep brown pools. Mielikki can also choose to appear as athe Forest Queen, a young maiden with leaves and golden moss for hair whowalks the air garbed in sheer robes of green and yellow and is surrounded bysummer songbirds. Mielikki’s voice is a low, rich purr in whatever form shetakes, and she sometimes appears with the antlers of a stag growing from herforehead or slowly grows them as mortals watch. (Since Beshaha began to usethe black antlers as her symbol, Mielikki seldom does this.)Whatever form she appears in, Mielikki can draw her spells from any sphereor school except the schools of necromancy and illusion/phantasm. She can-not cast the reversed, harmful forms of spells from the healing or necroman-tic spheres. All spells she casts from the plant and animal spheres or that af-fect, summon, or call animals or plants are cast at double strength in all re-spects and a -2 penalty to saving throws against their effects.

(Our Lady of the Forest, the Supreme Ranger,Daughter to Silvanus)

Intermediate Power of the Beastlands, NGPORTFOLIO: Forests, forest creatures, rangers, dryads, autumnALIASES: Khelliara (Rasheman)DOMAIN NAME: Krigla/The Grove of the UnicornsSUPERIOR: SilvanusALLIES: Eldath, Silvanus, Shiallia, Gwaeron Windstrom, Lurue

the Unicorn, Chauntea, Shaundakul, LathanderFOES: Malar, Talona, Talos, Moander (now dead), Myrkul

(now dead)SYMBOL: A white unicorn on a green field, a white unicorn’s head

facing sinister, or a tiny star of dazzling white hue bal-anced on an open, lush green oak or ash leaf (older)

WOR. ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN

AC -4; MV Fl 18; HP 219; THAC0 -10; #AT 3/1

Dmg 1d8 +15 (hornblade +3, +10 STR, +2 spec. bonus in long sword)MR 70%; SZ L (10 feet)ST R 2 2 , C o n 1 9 , IN T 1 8 , W i s 2 3 , CH A 2 2

Spells P: 13/12/12/12/11/9/4, W: 5/5/5/5/5/3/3/2/1

Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

*Including her second weapon attack when fighting two-handed

Special Att/Def: In combat, the supreme Ranger uses two scimitar-sized

hornblades +3. At times, she has been known to loan one of these to a rangeron a great quest for her. In the hands of a mortal, one of these hornblades hasbeen known to exhibit the properties of a rod of alertness and the other a rodof security (50 charges for either) in addition to functioning as a hornblade+3. The Forest Queen does not fight hand-to-hand very often and uses herfist when she must. She relies on her spells and abilities. Sometimes eitherthe Supreme Ranger or the Forest Queen carries a long bow whose arrowsspread life rather than death. Where they hit, woodland plants spring up andgrow rapidly. These can entangle hostile beings if the goddess so wills.

In any form, Mielikki can create treant (as the 7th-level priest spellbelow) at will by touching any tree, and her presence automatically negatesany charm spells or abilities or psionic influences over the minds of othergood or neutral creatures within 20 yards. She can also summon a dozenwoodland creatures of any single type she chooses every second round, andthey obey her to the death. Her touch destroys undead, and she is immuneto necromancy spells and the reversed, harmful forms of spells from the heal-ing and necromantic spheres.

Other ManifestationsWhen Mielikki manifests, it is most often as a glowing white unicorn whogallops through the air and can teleport freely from place to place in Faerûn.This manifestation can cast spells by touch from its horn and speak mind-to-mind with any living being. At times, Mielikki also appears as a driftingradiance of blue-white or green, gold, and rust that speaks with her voice,can move objects that it envelops about from place to place, and can un-leash magic as she does. To test their behavior, the Lady of the Forest oftenappears to rangers as a mortal woman lost and alone in the forest. The alertwill notice that her feet never touch the ground, and therefore she leavesno trail. Mielikki also works through the actions of dryads, satyrs, hawks,songbirds, sprites, swanmays, treants, unicorns, wolves, and other woodlandcreatures.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, druids, rangers, druid/rangersCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, NTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, D: No, R: No, D/R: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, D: No, R: No, D/R: NoAll clerics, druids, rangers, and druid/rangers of Mielikki receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. When in a forested area, allMielikkian druids, clerics, and rangers may cast a variant of the 1st-levelpriest spell analyze balance at will. This ability works on characters, creatures,or objects, or on part of the forest itself. If used on people, creatures, or ob-jects, the ability works as the spell. If used on the forest, this ability allows aMielikkian priest or ranger to detect if the ecology of a forested area is seri-ously disrupted.

Most rangers venerate Mielikki as their deity, though some venerate Sil-vanus, Eldath, Chauntea, Shaundakul, Mystra, or other deities. She grants herrangers their spells when they attain sufficient level, and they see her as theirleader, the supreme ranger, and their watchful mother. Other followers ofMielikki include dryads, hamadryads, treants, woodsmen, the occasional elf(especially wood elves), a few bards, and many of the Harpers. The followers ofMielikki usually do not organize themselves into official temples, but ratherassemble in peaceful forest glades to worship the goddess. Shrines to the god-dess are more common than temples and are found throughout the North, theWestern Heartlands, and parts of the Dalelands in wilderness areas.

In 1369 DR, Mielikki ordered the reorganization of her church and rein-troduced druids among her clergy to counter the waning of her faith. Whatlittle church hierarchy the Mielikkian faith has is still almost exclusivelyclerics; however, druids now have joined their ranks or begun circles in theNorth in her name. All the faithful of Mielikki are known as Walkers of theForest Way. They are now organized into three branches of devotion: theHeartwoods, the Forestarms, and the Needles.

The Heartwoods are the heart of the faith, and serve as voices of the spir-its of the trees themselves. These members of Mielikki�s faithful includedryads, hamadryads, and treants.

The spiritual followers of Mielikki, known as the Arms of the Forest, orForestarms, are the clerics and druids of her faith. They protect the forests ofthe world. Mielikki�s priesthood is open to all good and neutral humans,demihumans, and members of other woodland races, but tends to be domi-nated by human and half-elf women of battle experience, passionate charac-ter, and adventuring interests.

The Needles are rangers. They are considered to be the most beloved ofthe Lady of the Forest. They sometimes serve as clergy, but most often act asthe warrior arm of the faith and serve a defensive role protecting the forests

from marauders, humanoids, and the followers of the god Malar. Included inthis branch is a small religious order of druid/ranger woodland knightsknown as the Shadoweirs (SHA-doh-weerz).

Forestarms and Needles are given to dwelling in the forest. (Heartwoodsdo so per force.) Forestarms and Needles often have two or more abodes anda dozen or more caches of food and items that they can travel to in times ofneed. They tend to be the most adventuresome of forest and wildernessdwellers and to have easy-going dispositions. They are serene in theirknowledge of the balance of natural cycles and at peace with all other sylvanfaiths except the followers of Malar (whom they call �the Great Beast� or�the Beast of Beasts� or �the Bloodgod�).

Forestarms tend to be practical, unfussy folk, reverent in their firesideprayers to the Lady but impatient with too much ceremony. Their titles re-flect this: Questers (novices) who are accepted into the ranks of the priest-hood may rise through the following ranks: Spring Stag (clergy members ofless than two winters of service), Stalkers in the Green (experienced clergywho have not achieved outstanding achievements or appointments to seniortemple staff duties), Forest Flames (senior temple staff, envoys, and recog-nized tutors of the faithful), High Rangers (leaders of temples and championsof the faith), and Hawks of the Lady. This last title is given by the Lady her-self to denote her most cherished and high-ranking followers. Temple staff ti-tles tend to be very simple: Cook, Master of Novices, Doorwarden, House-master, Prior, Abbot, and Worship Master are all common titles.

Dogma: Mielikki�s followers are close to those of Silvanus in outlook andethos, save that they stress the positive and outreaching nature of the wild.Intelligent beings can live in harmony with the wild without requiring thedestruction of one in the name of the other. Mielikki�s outlook matches thatof rangers in general, which is why she is their patron.

Mielikkians are taught to embrace the wild and not fear it, because thewild ways are the good ways. They are to keep the balance and learn the hid-den ways of all life. They should not allow trees to be needlessly felled or theforest to be burned. They are to live in the forest and be a part of the forest,not dwell in endless battle against the forest.

Walkers of the Forest Way must protect forest life, defend every tree,plant anew where death fells a tree, and strive to keep the balance thatindiscriminate fire-users and woodcutters break. They are to live in har-mony with the woods, to teach others to do so, and to punish and frus-trate those who hunt for sport (not food) and who practice cruelties uponwild creatures.

Day-to-Day Activities: The Forestarms outlook is oriented toward theprotection of nature (and forests in particular) from the forces of evil and ig-norance. Many of these priests can be found wandering among small commu-nities nestled at the edges of forests both great and small. They seek to teachhumans and other goodly races to care and respect the trees and the life be-neath their leafy bows. They try to prevent further encroachment by civiliza-tion on the remaining great forests by teaching careful forest husbandry.When called upon, they defend the forest with force of arms if necessary.

The Needles support the Forestarms of their own faith and the clergies ofEldath and Silvanus in defending, renewing, and even extending forests andforest life. Wherever possible without conflicting with this prime interest,they are to work against those who deal in fire magic (notably the Red Wiz-ards and followers of Kossuth) and encourage city- and farm-dwelling folk torevere natural life and to view woodlands as rich, friendly places that arepleasant refuges for renewal and enjoying natural beauty, not deadly back-lands to be feared and fought. They are also charged with supporting theHarpers when this does not conflict with their more primary duties, sincethe Harpers work against the rise of great powers, which tend to endanger allnatural life and conditions around them by trying to reshape Faerûn.

Rangers of all faiths are to be assisted whenever possible by Walkers ofthe Forest way, and the seeds of trees and woodland plants gathered, nur-tured, and planted in an ongoing process so that 40 new trees will rise forevery one taken by flame or axe. Many of the Forestarms and Needles visitforesters regularly to heal them and provide guidance so that as few trees aspossible are taken and the forest is culled of weak creatures and unnaturalpredators, not creatures in the prime of life and health. In recent years, theForestarms and Needles have worked with ranchers north of Melvaunt, east-ern Amn, and the lands of the Dessarin to breed deer in large herds for foodand pelt use, leaving the wild deer of the forests to recover�along with allthe other forest creatures that either depend on deer for food or are killed orfrightened away by casual human forest incursions.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Those who worship the Lady of theForest believe her voice is echoed continuously throughout all forests by therustling leaves. A worshiper in good stead can listen and understand the whis-pers of the woods after a period of meditation and extended introspection.

These whispers have been transcribed by a few bards and rangers, but neverseem to say the same thing twice. The general theme is the preservation andunderstanding of the forests and the creatures living within them. (Those wholisten for a long period of time are reputed to improve their tracking andwoodland survival skills as well as their knowledge of animal lore.)

Worship of Mielikki involves periods of introspection and meditationeach morning and evening (in the forest whenever possible). Groups ofworshipers also gather under the stars to sing the Lady�s praises and ask forher guidance. When a worshiper of Mielikki begins a self-imposed quest toright a desecration of the forest, a special prayer is given up to the lady ofthe Forest for strength and guidance. When aid is needed performing somesimple task like setting the broken leg of a trapped wolf or following a trail,Walkers of the Forest Way usually ask for the Lady�s blessing under theirbreath before proceeding.

white with green accents, spring green with yellow accents, summer yellowwith red accents, and fall red with white accents. The white and green ofwinter symbolizes evergreens and the unsleeping life of the forest, the greenand yellow of spring is for the slow awakening of the forest to lush life, theyellow and red of summer represents the full splendor of flowers and bur-geoning fruits and grains, and the red and white of fall symbolizes fall leavesbeing overlaid with snow. These colors govern capes worn with armor intimes of war and the ceremonial dress of the Forestarms and the Needles:trousers, boots (always brown), a short cape, and a tabard that is long-sleeved in winter and sleeveless in summer. Whatever the garb, the uni-corn�s head of Mielikki, carved of ivory or bone or stitched in silver thread,is always worn over the heart.

The ceremonial dress of the Shadoweirs is chain mail and deep forest-green cloaks woven by dryads from spider silk and dyed with natural dyes.Many powerful forest knights wear ancient suits of elven chain mail theyhave been given by elven lords for their efforts in defending the forests. Thesymbol of the Shadoweirs is a giant shadowtop tree with a pair of crossedswords overlaying it, and it is sometimes stitched as a design on their cloth-ing or worn on their shields.

Adventuring Garb: When in the field, most Walkers in the ForestWay dress appropriate to the weather and their duties, though they main-tain the preferred seasonal colors of their faith. In very hot weather or inthe summer woods most wear only a sash and baldric of the right colors.They carry needed gear in pouches, small packs, or strapped to their boots.The Shadoweirs prefer suits of gleaming chain mail or studded leatherarmor in the field.

Specialty Priests (Rangers)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 14, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Strength, Dexterity, WisdomALIGNMENT: LG, NG, CGWEAPONS: AnyARMOR: Any (penalties to some special abilities accrue if wearing

heavier armor than studded leather)MINOR SPHERES: Animal, plant, time, travelersMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as rangerREQ. PROFS: Survival (woodland)BONUS PROFS: Hunting, set snares, animal lore, elvish (pick three)Most of Mielikki�s specialty priests are rangers. Within the faith, they arecalled Needles. Their abilities and restrictions, aside from changes notedabove, are detailed in full in the Player�s Handbook.

Specialty Priests (Druids)Wisdom 12, Charisma 15REQUIREMENTS:

PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaALIGNMENT: NWEAPONS: Club, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, knife, scimitar, sling,

staffARMOR:

other nonmetallic shieldMAJOR SPHERESS: All, animal, combat, elemental, healing, plant, time,

wards, weatherMINOR SPHERES: Divination, travelersMAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Padded, leather, or hide and wooden, bone, shell or

As druidAnimal lore, herbalismSurvival (woodland); tracking; modern languages (picktwo from: brownie, dryad, elvish, korred, pegasus, pixie,satyr, sprite, sylph, treant, unicorn)

A few specialty priests of Mielikki are druids. They, along with Mielikkianclerics and druid/rangers, belong to the branch of the Mielikkian faithknown as the Forestarms. Their abilities and restrictions, aside fromchanges noted above, are summarized in Appendix 1: Priest Classes and de-tailed in full in the Player�s Handbook.

The best-known to outsiders of the holy rituals of Mielikki are the FourFeasts of the solstice and equinox nights. These are known simply as theFirst Feast, the Second Feast, and so on. They are occasions for holy ritualsand revels, wherein all Mielikki�s faithful are expected to celebrate the sen-sual side of existence and sing praises to the Lady in forest depths whereverpossible.

The festivals of Greengrass and Midsummer Night are even greater ritu-als, combining revels similar to those of the Four Feasts with planting ritesand the Wild Ride. During the Wild Ride, the lady causes unicorns togather in herds and gallop through the woods. Her faithful are allowed toride them bareback through the night, covering astonishing distances andseeing much. On such rides, unicorns are empowered by the Lady to usetheir teleport ability as often as they desire for up to triple the normal range.On years when Shieldmeet follows Midsummer, riders can continue theRide for that day and night if they so desire.

At least once a month, every member of the clergy must perform theSong of the Trees and serve any dryads, hamadryads, or treants their songcalls forth. The clergy members perform the small tasks requested of them,but are free of dryad charms through the will of the Lady.

Every fire lit by a member of Mielikki�s clergy must have the Dread Prayerwhispered over it. In return, Mielikki makes the fire give off intense heat inparticular directions indicated by the supplicant but almost no smoke. Suchfires glow only dimly, so as to attract as little attention as possible, and donot spread. In this way, no watch need be kept against starting forest fires.

Major Centers of Worship: The most prominent center of the forestfaith is located at the Falls of Tumbling Stars, west of Lake Sember. The lo-cale is a hidden mountain valley where the Immerflow springs out of theThunder Peaks and falls down the mountainsides to feed the river leadingto the Wyvernwater. In this little-known valley, guarded against intrusionby rangers and half-elf archers of deadly skill, Hawk of the Lady NeretheenJalassan, a priestess of Mielikki, and Hawk of the Lady Lord Ranger BeldrynStormstone lead a small community of powerful rangers and other Walkersof the Forest Way in worship of the Lady of the Forest. To this holy place,the hurt and the favored of Mielikki�s faithful are brought by secret ways. Inthe vale are holy bathing pools where the wounded are restored by themagic of Mielikki, and from this hidden vale the most powerful Walkers ofthe Forest Way fare forth to make pilgrimages to the distant Unicorn Run,where a gateway to Mielikki�s realm is said to lie, and to work Mielikki�s willacross Faerûn.

Affiliated Orders: Named for the greatest trees of the forests, the shad-owtops and the weirwoods, the Shadoweirs are a highly secretive branch ofthe faith that originated in the northern reaches of the High Forest. Itsmembers consist solely of half-elf multiclassed druid/rangers, and its mem-bership has spread (thinly) beyond the High Forest throughout all of Faerûn.

The Shadoweirs serve as a sort of religious knighthood of the woods.Unlike the Arms of the Forest or even the Needles, the Shadoweirs are anactivist and proselytizing order who are willing to go on the offensive in thebehalf of their sacred forests. They seek to advance the regrowth of ancientforests reduced by civilization. Many Shadoweirs are adventurers, wander-ing the Realms with missionary zeal. They seek to halt the endless assault ofcivilization on their ancient homelands.

Within the Walkers of the Forest Way, the Order of the Unicorn�sHorn is a small society of itinerant healers who bring solace to both in-jured people, animals, and plants. The Mielikkian faith also has close tieswith Those Who Harp (the Harpers), an organization working for goodthroughout Faerûn and against the rise of great powers, which tend to en-danger all natural life and conditions around them by trying to reshapeFaerûn.

Priestly Vestments: The colors of Mielikkian ceremonial garb varywith the seasons, each season having a base color and an accent. Winter is

Specialty Priests (Druid/Rangers)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 14, Wisdom 14,

Charisma 15PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, Charisma/ Strength, Dexterity, WisdomALIGNMENT: N GWEAPONS: Club, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, scimitar, sling, staff, long

sword, long bowARMOR: Any (penalties to some ranger special abilities accrue if

wearing heavier armor than studded leather or elvenchain mail)

M AJOR SPHERESS: All, animal, combat, elemental, healing, plant, time,wards, weather

M INOR SPHERES: Divination, protection, travelersMAGICAL ITEMS: As druid and rangerREQ. PROFS: Animal lore, survival (woodland)BONUS PROFS: Modern language (elvish), modern languages (pick two

from: brownie, dryad, korred, pegasus, pixie, satyr, sprite,sylph, treant, unicorn)

l Only half-elves may be druid/rangers. Half-elves of sea elf ancestry maynot be druid/rangers.

l Mielikkian druid/rangers are the only known exception in Faerûn to therule that druids must be neutral in alignment.

l Mielikkian druid/rangers’ THAC0s, saving throws, Hit Dice, hit points,proficiency slots, and proficiency slot acquisition rates follow the rulesfor multiclass characters in the PHB.

l Through Mielikki’s grace, her druid/rangers accrue no armor penalties totheir ranger abilities for wearing elven chainmail.

An exceptional ly rare few specialty priests of Miel ikki are half-elfdruid/rangers. They all belong to the branch of the faith known as theForestarms and to the Shadoweirs, an order of woodland knights. Their abil-ities and restrictions, aside from changes noted above, are summarized inAppendix 1: Priest Classes and in the Player’s Handbook.

Mielikkian Spells2nd LevelBanish Blight (Alteration)Sphere: PlantRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One plantSaving Throw: NoneTo enact this spell, the caster must touch and breathe on any part of aplant. This spell wipes out plant diseases permanently, and it restores plantleaves to an uneaten, unshriveled, unfrozen, and unscorched condition forone day per level of the caster. It cannot restore dead plants to life, normake ravaged plants whole, but it brings what remains to peak condition—wilted flowers bloom anew, and drooping leaves rise up green. Leaves thathave fallen to the ground cannot be reattached to their plants by means ofthis magic, but withered foliage can be made green and growing again evenin the depths of winter as long as the spell lasts. In this manner, the skele-ton of a hedge can be made opaque with thick growth in an instant. Aflower restored by means of this magic can be picked without ending themagic, though it shrivels again when the spell expires.

If the weather and season permit continued life, restorations wrought bythis spell outlive it. For example, a diseased, shriveled plant restored tohealth will remain healthy, following its normal growing cycle, and notlapse back into ruin the moment the spell ends. To injured mobile or intel-ligent plant life (such as treants and shambling mounds), application of abanish blight restores 1d10+4 hit points of damage permanently, but it can-not help healthy plants to grow larger or gain extra hit points.

Mielikki crafted this spell both as a gift to Silvanus and to empower herfaithful to give forest creatures endless food by restoring half-eaten vegeta-tion to a full state.

Stalk (Alteration)Sphere: AnimalRange: TouchComponents: V, MDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell makes the affected creature nearly invisible in rural surroundings(99% undetectable visually, as if hiding in shadows). The creature also be-comes almost totally silent (as if moving silently with a 99% skill), andboth its natural scent and its heat signature are masked by the spell (mak-ing infravisual or scent detection of the creature also 99% unlikely). A sta-tionary creature under the effect of stalk is impossible to detect by nonmag-ical means at a range of greater than 10 yards.

Movement does not negate the spell, but it renders nonmagical detec-tion possible by keen observation. In this case, the subject of the stalk spellstill can move silently with a base 50% chance for success and remain visu-

ally and infravisually undetected with a base 65% chance for success; if thesubject’s normal hide in shadows or move silently skills are higher thanthese percentages, then they are used instead, although the infravisualmasking percentage for a moving subject remains 65%. Scent masking is al-ways at 99% for the duration of the spell.

The spell effect ends when the duration expires or when the subject at-tacks.

The material components are a piece of dried chameleon or lizard skinand the holy symbol of Mielikki.

Wood Sword (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell transforms its material component into a temporary weapon: asword that can be wielded by the caster or be directed to attack a particulartarget by the caster from afar. In either case, it strikes with the caster’s nor-mal THAC0, deals 1 hit point of damage per level of the caster at everysuccessful strike, and vanishes instantly when the spell expires or it comesinto contact with any flame, If released to fight on its own, a wood sword isAC -1, has 22 hp, and moves at MV Fl 16 (A). It strikes once per round ata single target.

The target of a wood sword can be indicated during casting or deter-mined later and can be changed at any time. The caster can choose anyvisible creature or item within range and silently will the wood sword to at-tack it. A wood sword hangs motionless if its designated target dies or van-ishes if not given a new target. The caster can bid the weapon go and attacka certain target or return to be directly wielded as often as desired duringthe life of the spell.

A wood sword is supple, but can be broken by successful edged weaponchopping attacks that do more damage than it has hit points or by beingcaught in a closing stone or metal door; such destruction ends the spell in-stantly. The caster can fight with another weapon and leave the wood swordto fight on its own, but if its creator casts any other spell. the wood swordvanishes the instant that new magic takes effect. Caster use of magicalitems does not destroy a wood sword.

A wood sword can do no harm to nonliving wood or to stone or metal,but can readily be employed to smash glass flasks, topple items, and even tostir mixtures in distant bowls. (A clever caster could direct it to knock overthe rearmost bottle in a cluster of glass objects, thereby making it smash orknock over the other glass objects in its way.) If the caster has the leisure toenact precise control, a wood sword can perform quite delicate tasks. It neednot merely attack things. If used to carry things (such as satchels or ropesacross chasms, or rings of keys to prisoners), it breaks if burdened with agreater weight than the caster can lift (the caster’s maximum press amount,dictated by his or her Strength ability score).

The material component of this spell is a twig branch, or any fragmentof wood that still retains some bark and has not been cut, stained, var-nished, or otherwise altered by tools. (This means the wood must be pickedup as fallen wood or snapped off rather than cut.)

5th LevelTree Healing (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Healing, Necromantic, PlantRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: The caster and one treeSaving Throw: NoneThis spell enables a wounded priest to pass into the interior of a tree and re-main hidden within it for as long as desired, being healed by the natural nu-trients of the tree. During this time, the caster can see and hear the sur-roundings of the tree perfectly but is concealed from all forms of detectionby the magic of the spell and protected by the tree from any extremes ofheat, cold, rain, sunlight, snow, and other conditions. The tree itself givesoff no magical aura and is not marked by the caster’s entry in any way. Allthe caster’s bodily processes are suspended, so the caster has no need tosleep, breathe, or eat. The caster regains 1 hit point every 6 turns of contin-uous existence inside the tree. There is a 40% chance that the tree will

neutralize any disease the caster may be carrying, regardless of whether ornot the caster is aware of the condition. If more than one disease is present,determine the result separately for each. Tree healing can do nothing againstany poisons except tree poisons, which it always neutralizes.

If a tree containing a priest is damaged, the priest takes half of the dam-age but is free to leave the tree at any time. The caster can use his or herspells or magical items carried to heal the tree from within. Offensive magicmust be cast from outside the tree, or the tree is destroyed.

Once the caster of a tree healing spell leaves the tree, the magic ends.Reentry is impossible without another casting of the spell. The caster priestcan, however, reach out of the tree to speak, gesture, or discard items, andthen duck back in, 50 long as some part of his or her body remains withinthe tree. The spell brings all items worn or carried by the caster into thetree, hut other items cannot be brought in later. If the priest reaches out ofthe tree and picks anything up, it cannot pass into the tree.

A tree healing can never be used to enter treants or other sentient forestplants. Any physical damage deliberately done by the priest to the treewhile within it results in his or her unceremonious expulsion from the tree,whether the tree is sentient or not.

7 th Leve lCreate Treant (Alteration, Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: PlantRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 day/levelCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One twig, bough, shrub, or living treeSaving Throw: NoneThis spell transforms its material component into a treant who serves thecaster with utmost loyalty until destroyed or the spell expires. When thespell ends, the treant dwindles to nothingness and is gone. Since the mate-rial component is consumed, priests of Mielikki use this spell sparingly. Thetype of material component determines the size of the created treant: Twigsproduce 7-HD treants, boughs create 8-HD treants, shrubs 9- or 10-HD tre-ants, and trees 11 or 12-HD treants.

The material component of this spell is any twig, bough, shrub, or livingtree.

M i l i l(Lord of Song, the Lord of All Songs,Guardian of Singers and Troubadoursthe One True Hand of All-Wise Oghma)

L e s s e r P o w e r o f t h e B e a s t l a n d s , N G

PORTFOLIO: Poetry, song, eloquenceALIASES: NoneDOMAIN- NAME: Brux/Library of All KnowledgeSUPERIOR: OghmaALLIES: Oghma, Deneir, Lliira, Sune, Mystra, Finder Wyvern-

spur, Stillsong, Hanali Celanil, Corellon Larethian, Se-hanine Moonbow, Rillifane Rallathil, Erevan Ilesere,Labelas Enoreth, Lathander

FOES: NoneSYMBOL: A silver harp, often depicted as a fire-stringed instru-

ment whose body is made of silvery leavesWOR. ALIGN.: Any

Milil (Mihl-LILL) is depicted in religious art and songis a handsome male human or elf with a charismaticmanner and a haunting, melodic voice. He is veneratedby human, elf, and half-elf bards, who see him as theOne Who Watches While MUSIC is Alive (when the)are performing), the Guardian of Singers and Trouba-dours, and the One True Hand of All-Wise Oghma.(Deneir is the other “Hand.”) Deneir, Gond, and Milil

serve Oghma, though Milil has little in common with Gond, and their re-lationship is strained. He is on excellent terms with a number of powerfulgods, including Mystra and Sune, and often works closely with Lliira. He iswelcome in the elf pantheon as well as the Faerûnian pantheon because ofthe beauty of his song.

Other Manifestations

Milil is the ultimate performer: self-confident, inspired, possessed oftotal recall or anything he sets a mind to remember, able to improvise

facilely out of desire or necessity, well-educated in general theories of con-duct and broad areas of knowledge, and masterful in all sorts of perfor-mance technique (including a passing knowledge of disguise derived fromcostume theory), especially within his sphere of knowledge-music, po-etry, and elegant speech. However, he is also self-centered and egotisticaland likes to be the center of attention. When he is not the center of at-tention, he bores easily, and his mind wanders or he leaves. He is alsogiven to flirtation with both deities and mortals for his own enjoyment, tothe deep annoyance of more sober powers.

Milil�s Avatar (Bard 30, Spellsinger 22, Mage 21, Cleric 21)Milil often appears as a young, charismatic male human or elf with hand-some features and a voice of unearthly beauty. He most commonly appearsclean-shaven, with shoulder-length brown or blond hair. He dresses in thegarb of a troubadour and favors bright clothing, elegantly patterned cloth,and gold or bejeweled clothing decorations and jewelry.

Milil uses spells from any wizard school or priest sphere, though he favorsspells that charm or have musical, vocal, sound, or instrumental effects ormanifestations. Any spell he uses with musical, vocal, sound, or instrumen-tal effects or manifestations is cast at triple normal effectiveness in all re-spects and the targets of such spells receive a -3 penalty to their savingthrows if any are allowed.

AC -2; MV 15, F121; HP 168; THAC0 6; =AT 1Drng ld6+5 (rapier +3, +1 STR)MR 7L1%; SZ L (10 feet)

STR 16, DEX 21, CON 19, INT 22, Wis 22, CHA 74Spells P: 12/12/12/12/10/6/2, W: 6/6/6/5/5/5/4/4/3

Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Milil can conjure weapons and items from midair andis considered proficient with any weapon he uses. He favors Sharptongue, amagical rapier +3 that has the abilities of a sword of quickness and a sword ofdancing when he uses it. He sometimes loans Sharptongue to people perform-ing a great quest or service for him or his church, and in the hands of a mor-tal it behaves as either a sword of quickness or a sword of dancing in a round,but not both (and obviously must perform as a sword of dancing if it is apartfrom its wielder).

Milil can use spell turning and ironguard (detailed in the FORGOTTEN

REALMS Adventures tome and Pages From the Mages) spells at will to protecthimself from mortal attacks. He can sing so as to shatter magical silence or tomake all beings within 90 feet cease all acts of violence, instantly, and re-main peaceful until he ceases to sing, even if their weapons or other itemsare taken from them or they are attacked. One of Milil’s favorite methods ofdemonstrating his divinity to skeptics is to play harp woven of flames,which he conjures from the air.

By touch, Milil can place the knowledge of a song—both tune andlyrics—in the mind of a mortal, so that it can never be forgotten, or conferupon any being the ability to play a single type of instrument as if with yearsof mastery. He has often used the former power to preserve clues about thewhereabouts of treasure or tasks that should be done for generations to come(trusting that his song will be handed down). Milil can also either convey orcure deafness by touch. There is no saving throw allowed against deafnesscaused by Milil, and creatures so strick cannot be cured except by thehand of a deity.

Milil plays any instrument, even those from other crystal spheres orplanes, with supreme mastery. He never forgets any tune that he or any of hispriests have ever heard and can perform them all superbly. When he wishes,he can project his voice as a group of voices in harmony or create the soundof any instrument or combination of instruments from thin air to accom-pany his performance.

Milil is immune to spells and spell-like effects that have musical, vocal,sound, or instrumental effects or manifestations unless he wishes them to af-fect him.

Milil often manifests as haunting music, paricularly in clearings deep inwoodlands. He appears as a wordless, lone male voice soaring through the airwhere no singer can be seen. At tunes, Milil draws the image of two dancinghollyphants in the air in glowing yellow lines or in ink (that appears fromnowhere) on parchment to signify his approval. This seem to indicate hisdelight in watching such creatures dance to his music. More often, Mililmanifests as a radiance surrounding a bard, storyteller, or epic poet in thethroes of inspiration— a sight always heralding a performance that moves anaudience to tears, blind obedience, enthusiastic offerings of money, or what-

ever else the performer desires them to do. Milil often places helpful visions(mental pictures of the whereabouts of treasure, lost loved ones, or direc-tions overland) in the mind of a singer or musician who pleases him.

Milil also acts through the appearance or presence of aasimar (all accom-plished singers), hollyphants, light aasimons, movanic devas, and solars. Morecommonly he sends songbirds (especially nightingales), white horses or pegasi,calico cats, red or yellow roses, lilies, peonies, perfect gemstones of any sort,and peregrine falcons to show his favor and as a sign to inspire his faithful.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, mystics, bards, spellsingersCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Mys: No, B: No, Spell: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mys: No, B: No, Spell: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and mystics of Milil receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests must take singing andmusical instrument as two of their initial nonweapon proficiencies.

mortality, and that as long as he survives, music in Faerûn will grow andflourish. Legend insists that the Patriarch flits about the Realms from timeto time inspiring youthful and promising singers by showing up at theirlocal tavern as an old minstrel and giving a performance that leaves every-one present weeping and yet bright-eyed with hope.

Mililan temples are soaring, cathedrals of splendid architecture. All ofthem have choir lofts, facilities for presenting stage performances, work-shops for the repair and construction of musical instruments, extensivemusic libaries, and carefully crafted acoustics.

Dogma: Milil is a god of creativity and inspiration, of the whole songmore than just the lyrics or the music. He represents the finished thought,the process that takes an idea from conception to completion. As a result,the ethos of Milil teaches to consider the world in terms of a continuingprocess, a song that begins at birth and is only silenced with the finalchord.

Novices in the Mililan faith are given the following charge: �Life is asong: Strive always to make it more beautiful. Destroy no music nor instru-ment, nor stop a singer before the tune is done. Listen to the world aroundas well as filling it with your own sound. One singer�s music is another�snoise, so still no bad music if its making be joyful. Spread the teaching ofsong and musicianship always. Sing to Milil every day. Music is the mostprecious thing folk can create�so encourage its training, use, and preser-vation at all times and in all possible ways. Awaken a love of song in allfolk you can, and offer its performance freely around campfire or on thetrail. Cease not in your own seeking for new tunes, new techniques, and

Milil attracts those who love music�and who need to be a part of it, notmerely listeners. Such folk tend to be sensualists. They love good wine,good food, pleasing art and architectural or natural surroundings, theamorous company of others, and the beauties of nature�many faithful ofMilil enjoy rising before the sun to watch the wakening radiance. For rea-sons lost in the mists of time, all clergy of Milil are known as Sorlyn (prob-ably after a founding patriarch of the faith), and specialty priests of the faithare called tuneservants. Both genders are represented fairly equally in thefaith, and the ranks of the clergy are about two-thirds human, with a quar-ter of the remnant being elves, and the remainder half-elves. Sorlyn alltend to be charismatic and physically attractive. All are also good singersskilled in the use of at least one musical instrument. Additionally, many areaccomplished composers and musicians or even dancers. They tend to beactive performers and travelers, not recluses or cloistered scriveners.

new instruments to master.�Day-to-Day Activities: Most Sorlyn spend their time learning lyrics,

tunes, and how best to perform them on a slowly expanding repertoire of in-struments both in their temples and on the road. They take care to writedown both original compositions and those they have learned, as well asrecording tunes through the use of the singing stone spell for those as yet un-born. Such records are to be cached in hiding as well as stored in templevaults to make the survival of the music as likely as possible. Sorlyn alsowork as tutors to all who profess faith in Milil or who pay for the training, aswell as judging many bardic contests and adjudicating bardic disputes be-tween individuals, companies, or colleges.

About half of the total priesthood of Milil is clerics, the remainder beingspecialty priests with a few bards, mystics, and spellsingers in the service ofthe Lord of All Song. In general, before the Godswar the priests in thelarger cities, with more organized churches beneath them, were clerics,while the churches in more remote areas were commanded by tuneservants;however, the number of tuneservants in the faith has been growing steadilysince the Time of Troubles. Relations between the clerics and the specialtypriests are good, though the more conservative clerics are a bit concernedabout recurring incidents of tuneservants using their enthrall and suggestionpowers to enhance their own status and the tuneservants� continual supportof �ne�er-do-wells� (adventurers). A quick way to determine whether alocal temple of Milil is run by a cleric or a tuneservant is to listen to itsmusic. All temples of Milil have very good choirs, songmasters, organists,and/or musicians, but the type of music varies. Clerics tend to play tradi-tional songs and hymns while tuneservants prefer newer works, some ofwhich may be disconcerting to the parishioners.

Milil�s is an organized faith, with all churches paying heed (or at least lipservice) to the Patriarch of Song in Waterdeep. Unfortunately, the influenceof the Patriarch diminishes with distance, such that those congregations inSembia tend to pay attention only to the most urgent messages.

Sorlyn adhere to clear rules and an organized hierarchy. They use the ti-tles (in ascending order of rank) of: Mute One (novice), Chanter, Chorister,Soloist, Lead Voice, First Voice, Songmaster, and Glorian�a title used byall senior clergy in addition to any temple rank or office they may also hold.Typical temple ranks include Castellan, Master Tutor, Master Wind, MasterSerenader, Master Librarian, Master Instrumentalist, Prior, and Patriarch.The specialty priests of the faith address each other as Harmonian, regardlessof rank or accomplishments, and are noticeably (and acceptably) lax aboutusing the formal titles of other clergy members�except the Patriarch ofSong, who they revere profoundly.

The mysterious Patriarch of Song appears as an old man with kindly fea-tures, a flowing white beard, and ice-blue eyes. He is probably the bestharpist in the world. His knobby old hands are able to make a harp sing,moan, drone, and almost seem to talk, as well as emitting the more usualsounds of such an instrument. His voice is a magnificent baritone, thoughhe has a falsetto that seems like the clear, high voice of a young elf girl orvery young human maiden. His true name and origins have been forgotten,but he has adopted various names�and appearances�in recent years,even apparently switching gender from time to time at the command of theLord of All Songs. He is rumored to be able to enthrall intelligent beingswith a song so beautiful that they enter a trance and hear only the musicsoaring endlessly in their heads until freed by rough handling. Sorlyn be-lieve he has been given special powers by Milil beyond his apparent im-

Tuneservants are more adventurous. They roam the roads of Faerûn res-cuing or protecting common minstrels and great bards alike when such indi-viduals fall on hard times or into peril. They also accompany adventurers ofother faiths on deeds of heroism so that they can compose ballads aboutwhat befell (from �Brave Sir Dobbyn Ran Away� to �She Was Only a Wan-ton Weredragon, But She Was a Lady Fair�). They also embark on adven-tures of their own to recover music, instruments, and the like from old ruinsand tombs, or learn of music long gone by using their stone tell abilities andsimilar magics in such places.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Devout worshipers of Milil callout to him in a Song of Praise at least once a day and usually also after everyvictory in battle or great thing that benefits them. They also participate ineither a personal song to the Lord of All Songs upon awakening or (in atemple) join in the softly voiced chorus of the Sunrise Song.

ship to Milil involve a sung or played opening call, a prayer and solo songwhile kneeling before the altar, a unison hymn followed by a sermon or sup-plication to the Lord of Song (and the proffering of any offerings), and thena closing song that rises to a thunderous, grand crescendo that typicallymakes devout listeners or participants weep with joy�and those of otherfaiths stop and listen in wonder.

Other rituals include the solemn, beautiful polyphonic chord-singing ofthe Song of Sorrowing, performed at the funeral of any faithful of Milil, andthe Song of Welcoming, sung when someone is welcomed into the faith.The calendar-related festivals marked by rituals sacred to Milil are Green-grass, when the Call to the Flowers is sung by all faithful, and Midsummer,when the Grand Revel is held. The Revel involves a feast, dancing, andmuch roistering, and is marked by parodies and wickedly satirical song, butall other shared (by two or more clergy members and laity) rituals of wor-

Major Centers of Worship: The most significant temple to Milil is cur-rently Arbalest�s House in Athkatla, whence Milil journeyed during theTime of Troubles to personally found a singing circle. The Lord of Songcharged the Patriarch of Song, the aged overlord of his church, to overseethis new temple�s development. The Patriarch remains active in encourag-ing the faith in Waterdeep (notably the rising Temple of Good Cheer andthe bards� college of New Olamn) and journeys often by means of a secretgate created by Milil between the hilltop temple in Athkatla, with its mightyBellows of Milil organ and its growing circle of adherent bards and minstrels,and his own abode in Waterdeep.

Affiliated Orders: Milil has one knightly order of personable (andsometimes swaggering) fighters, paladins, and bards, the Harmonious Order,whose members, along with the clergy, guard temples and holy sites. Itsmembers also often pursue quests or do good works in Milil�s name, andtuneservants love to accompany them on these romantic and glorious

crimson adorned with cloth-of-gold dragons, bards, or warriors arching and

quests. Though Milil�s symbol is the silver harp, his symbol is not meant todirectly link him to the Harpers, who use the crescent moon and harp; how-ever, the church of Milil does have ties to Those Who Harp.

Priestly Vestments: Sorlyn wear robes of rich, lustrous fabric�usually

pires; this can readily be heard by those who listen for it. Note that any vocal

spell cannot be cast stealthily. Creatures in or leaving this area when thecasting is complete are affected, but beings entering that area afterward arenot. While it lasts, a battle song conveys a +1 attack bonus, a +1 damagebonus, a +1 bonus to saving throws, and a +2 bonus on all ability checks. Afaint echoing keeps the sound of the caster�s song alive until the spell ex-

infliction or gag prevents the casting of this spell. This spell can be used inconjunction with a chant and/or prayer spell, but no more than one of eachtype of spell can be in effect at a time.

spiraling the length of the garment. Metal chimes are often worn as earrings,anklets, or on bracelets when outdoors, but these are always easily removableso as not to mar music-making. Hair is worn short or�in the case of tuneser-vants�bound up in a golden hair-net so as not to get in the way of playinginstruments or listening acutely. Their holy symbol can take the form of a realharp or the symbol of Milil formed into an artfully crafted piece of jewelry.

ics, it is best to be prepared for anything.

Adventuring Garb: Sorlyn prefer the security of full (often chased andornamented) armor when adventuring or traveling overland in dangerousregions, and defend themselves with magic, maces, and enchanted musicalinstruments. Song has its place, but in a world full of orcs, dragons, and crit-

3rd Level

Dispel Silence (Abjuration, Alteration)Sphere: CombatRange: 0Components: S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 10-foot/level radiusSaving Throw: NoneThis spell is the priest version of the dispel silence spell presented in PagesFrom the Mages. This spell negates the effect of magical silence within the

Specialty Priests (Tuneservants)

� Elves and half-elves can be tuneservants.

REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 14, Intelligence 13, Charisma 14PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaA L I G N M E N T : N GWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, charm, creation, divination, guardian, heal-

ing, necromantic, protection, summoning, thoughtMINOR SPHERES: Elemental, sun, weather, travelersMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Singing, artistic ability (lyric poetry)BONUS PROFS: Musical instrument (pick one), artistic ability (song-

writing), modern languages (pick one)

area of the dispel silence for the duration of the spell. Following the casting ofdispel silence, all spellcasting, speaking, and actions can proceed normally.

For the duration of the spell, the area protected by dispel silence is proofagainst silence spells; they do not function within the area of the dispel silence.The area of effect is immobile, however, and does not move with the caster.

The material components of this spell are a pinch of powdered diamondworth at least 50 gp that is flung into the air and the holy symbol of the cast-ing priest. The holy symbol is not consumed in the casting.

Song of Compulsion (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: Charm, LawRange: 60 yardsC o m p o n e n t s : VDuration: 1 turn+1d6 rounds

One to six beings in a 60-foot cubeC a s t i n g T i m e : 6

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At 15th level, tuneservants are able to cast harp of war (as the 7th-levelpriest spell) or Melisander�s harp (as the 5th-level wizard spell found inPages from the Mages) once a day.

At 10th level, tuneservants can also perform such a sweet tune that theycan persuade the very rocks to speak to them, similar to the 6th-levelpriest spell stone tell, once a day.

At 10th level, tuneservants can create a song of suggestion (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) once per day.

At 5th level, tuneservants are able to both dispel silence and sing a song ofcompulsion (as the 3rd-level spells) once a day.At 7th level, tuneservants are able to use their vocal mastery to shout (asthe 4th-level wizard spell).

Tuneservants can enthrall an audience (as the 2nd-level priest spell) withsong. This ability may be used once per day, with the same limitations asthe enthrall spell, but with the following exceptions: Tuneservants maynot affect creatures of a higher Wisdom than themselves nor creatureswith more Hit Dice than their own experience levels.Tuneservants are able to sing a loud, sustained note once a day that hasthe effect of the 2nd-level wizard spell shatter.At 3rd level, tuneservants are able to both cast music of the spheres (as the2nd-level priest spell) and unearthly choir (as the 3rd-level priest spell)once a day. They may cast an additional unearthly choir for every threeexperience levels they gain above 3rd level (twice at 6th level, threetimes at 9th, etc.).

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Sorlyn Spells2nd LevelBattle Song (Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Charm, CombatRange: 60 yardsComponents: V, SDuration: 7 roundsCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: 50-foot cubeSaving Throw: NoneThis spell is readily recognizable by its ringing song, a loud ascending refrainthat raises and releases the magic at the instant of its ending, affecting all be-ings within a 50-foot-cube centered on the point selected by the caster. This

Area of Effect:Saving Throw: Neg.To set this spell in motion, the caster sings the first verse of a popular andmindless traveling song having many verses (such as �Ninety-Nine Barrelsof Ale on the Wall�). Song of compulsion prevents the affected beings fromtaking offensive actions, casting spells, using psionic abilities, using magical

sumed to occur when the spell duration expires). Affected creatures maystill defend themselves (that is, they receive no Armor Class penalties) andmove about within the area of effect, and the effects of a song of compulsionon any creature are negated if it is attacked.

items, or leaving the area of effect until they finish the song (which is as-

The effect is centered on a point selected by the caster, and it affects per-sons selected by the caster within the area of effect. If the spell is cast atthree or more beings, each gets a normal saving throw; if only two creaturesare being enspelled, each rolls its saving throw with a -1 penalty; if the spellis cast at but one creature, its saving throws suffer a -2 penalty. Savingthrows are adjusted for Wisdom. Those creatures who succeed in their sav-

(although the caster may employ magical means to make himself or herself

experience levels cannot be affected by a song of compulsion, and neithercan beings who cannot hear or do not understand the language of the caster

ing throws are totally unaffected by the spell. Mindless undead creaturesand undead creatures with (individually) more Hit Dice than the caster has

understood and then affect such creatures).

4th Level

Singing Stone (Alteration)Sphere: Divination, Elemental EarthRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One stoneSaving Throw: NoneThis spell traps a short tune�one that the caster can sing with threebreaths or less�in a stone. Whenever the stone is either tapped or en-tirely immersed in water, it emits the tune, repeating it at 1-turn intervalsif immersion continues. Any solid stone no larger than the caster�s fistwill serve, and the music can consist only of sounds the caster can make

himself (in other words, singing, playing an instrument, and thumpingout a rhythm simultaneously as about as complex as the captured soundcan be). In the past many gemstones have been used for this spell, thoughit is a false rumor that granite and other simple stones cannot carry tunesas beautifully.

The �tune� need not involve vocal sounds or may be a message spokenor chanted rather than sung�but in any case, the pitch, timbre, and inflec-tions of the voice and/or instrumental sounds are precisely duplicated, andlisteners could mistake the sounds of a singing stone for a particular person'sactual voice. This spell has been used to prepare traps, leave behind wills ordying messages, and to preserve the best work of the bards. Certain templesof Milil have entire libraries of carefully racked stones. Long tunes areplayed back by tapping a row of stones, each one enchanted with this spellto capture a segment of the ongoing tune.

The maker of the sound to be captured must be the caster. There is no

This spell creates a five-stringed silver harp of glowing force in the caster'shands. This is a weightless instrument that can be �hung� in midair to allow

by application of dispel magic, but only the caster can actually touch it, movethe caster to cast other spells or engage in other activities. It can be banished

it, or evoke its powers, which are awakened by plucking the harp strings.

an d works only once, vanishing when called upon. When the last stringOne string can be plucked per round, and each string holds only one power

fades away, so too does the spectral harp. The caster is always aware of whichstring calls forth what power. The normal selection of powers includes theability to:

� Shatter all nonmagical metal items within 20 feet of the harp.� Teleport all magical items within 40 feet of the harp to random locations

in Faerûn (not accompanied by anyone holding, carrying, or wieldingthem).

� Unleash a lightning bolt from the harp, stabbing out at a single chosen tar-get. (This causes 9d6 points of damage, and the target is allowed a savingthrow vs. spell to reduce the damage by half.)

� Teleport without error any beings specifically chosen by the caster who arewithin 20 feet of the harp to a locale somewhere in Faerûn chosen by thecaster. (In other words, out of a group of struggling combatants, thecaster could choose just his or her friends.)

� Call down a flame strike (a 5-foot-radius, 30-foot-high vertical column ofroaring flame) on a single target creature within 70 feet of the harp.(This causes 6d8 points of damage, and the target is allowed a savingthrow vs. spell to reduce the damage by half.)

There are ways of varying the incantation of harp of war to give a harpslightly different powers from the norm. Each temple has its own variations.(Player-created custom variants must be approved by the DM.) The mostcommon variant of this spell is a harp that calls forth repulsion, wall of stone,wall of fire, and blade barrier spells, and instead of teleportation summonsthree angry pegasi that fight for the caster or provide transport for him or herand other chosen beings (or items) for up to 7 turns. (This latter version ofthe spell is the one used almost exclusively by faithful trained in Waterdeepand Athkatla.)

The material component of this spell is a thin strand of silver wire.

known way to use this spell to capture the words or song of another being.The spell does not pick up the words of others or background noise, even ifsuch things were present as the spell was cast, but it does preserve throat-clearings, mistakes, and other noises�such as the clatter of somethingdropped by the caster�that the caster may not want preserved. The soundis preserved at the volume level reaching the stone. Loud shouting or musicis recorded as loud.

The spell range refers to the fact that the stone must be touched. Thecaster can, if desired, move away from the stone to achieve an echoing ef-fect or a distant sound and may even choose to move continuously toward,away from, or around the stone while recording. The recorded sound willreflect this. The recording time is the three breaths following the round ofcasting when the stone is touched, and the magic causes the stone to glowa faint rose-red while it is capturing sounds.

The material component of a singing stone spell is a small hollow metaltube (chime).

5th LevelForgotten Melody (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: Charm, CombatRange: 120 yardsComponents: VDuration:Casting Time:

Special8

Area of Effect: One to four creatures in a 60-foot cubeSaving Throw: Neg.To set this spell in motion, the caster sings the first phrase or the chorus of atuneful, catchy song. Victims of forgotten melody must make a successful sav-ing throw vs. spell at a -4 penalty or mentally obsess on that song. They can-not get the song out of their heads until they finish it, and they worry thelyrics around in their minds over and over trying to remember them andcomplete the song. While victims are trying to finish the song, they cannotcast spells or use psionic abilities since they cannot focus on any other in-tense mental activity other than finishing the song.

Forgotten melody is especially devastating to very intelligent beings, whotend to be able to concentrate intensely, since it subverts that very capabil-ity. The duration of the spell is determined by the Intelligence of the beingaffected by it: Beings who fail their saving throws are affected for the numberof rounds equal to their Intelligence. This duration is affected by their mag-ical defense adjustment (determined by Wisdom). Those affected beingswith a magical defense adjustment bonus may subtract the number of roundsequal to the bonus from the spell�s duration; those with a magical defense ad-justment penalty must add the number of rounds equal to the bonus to thespell�s duration.

Mindless undead creatures and creatures with animal intelligence or less(an Intelligence of 1 or less) cannot be affected by a forgotten melody, andneither can beings who cannot hear or do not understand the language ofthe caster (although the caster may employ magical means to make himselfor herself understood and then affect such creatures).

7th LevelHarp of War (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 turn or lessCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: None

Moander (Dead)(The Darkbringer, the Jawed God, the Rotting God,the Great Dread God)Lesser Power (later Demipower) of the Abyss, CEPORTFOLIO: Rotting death, decay, corruptionALIASES: None

DOMAIN NAME: Formerly: Rarandreth/Offalmound; currently adrift onthe Astral Plane

SUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: NoneFOES: Auril, Chauntea, Eldath, Finder Wyvernspur, Lath-

ander, Mielikki, Silvanus, Selûne, TymoraSYMBOL: An upright male human right hand, fingers out-

stretched, with an open human female fanged mouth, lipsparted as though speaking, set in its palm

WOR. ALIGN.: LE, NE, CEMoander was an ancient god of rot, corruption,and decay who had been banished from theRealms on more than one occasion. Although theranks of its faithful were never large, Moander hadbeen venerated by a variety of cults since beforethe rise of Netheril. Alternately represented in theancient texts as he, she, or it, the Darkbringer isan excellent example of how even dead andforgotten gods can sleep lightly.

The Darkbringer was a cruel and petty tyrant who enjoyed tormentinglesser beings and making them destroy that which they held most dear.Moander frequently lied, particularly when such prevarications would causegreat emotional distress in its victims. The Darkbringer sought to controlevery aspect of its worshipers' lives, viewing them only as puppets. It soughtto corrupt and destroy all who would not bow down before it.

Over a thousand years ago, during the time of Myth Drannor, the Dark-bringer's sole remaining major temple in the Realms was a huge complex onthe site of present-day Yûlash whose inhabitants were a continual menace

to the forest peoples. The elves eventually burned the complex to theground, slew all the priests, banished the Jawed God from the Realms, andimprisoned his avatar beneath the ruined temple where it could only befreed by a nonborn child. They hoped Moander would shrink to nothing,starved of worship, but many of its worshipers survived and fled southwhere they resurrected the priesthood. Over the next millennia, bands ofcultists periodically tried to free the Abomination of Moander-withoutsuccess. Stones inscribed with its symbol are still discovered on a fairly reg-ular basis in ruined Yûlash.

Moander was inadvertently released in recent years by the sell-swordAlias and her companions through the manipulations of the Cult of Moan-der which still sought to restore the Darkbringer to the Realms. Moander’sphysical presence in the Realms was then destroyed in a battle in the skiesabove Myth Drannor and Westgate by Alias and her allies with the aid ofthe red dragon Mistinarperadnacles Hai Draco, also known as “Mist.” Thedestruction wrought by the Abomination before its destruction resulted inthe creation of Moander’s Road in Cormanthor, the elven forest.

The Rotting God, now reduced to a demipower, again returned brieflyto the Realms with the aid of a tribe of saurials it enslaved, but it was dri-ven back and ultimately defeated by a combination of brave warriors, ex-iles from another world, and the Harpers. Moander was then slain on itshome plane in the Abyss by a powerful human bard, Finder Wyvernspur,who then seized its divine porter. Sages speculate that the Nameless Bardwas aided by his patron deity, Lady Luck (explaining, in their opinions,how a mortal could permanently slay a divine power). Finder has sincebecome a deity in his own right, representing, among other things, theneed for art to change to avoid the corruption that befalls it when it doesnot evolve.

If any former power of the Realms is truly utterly destroyed, it is theDarkbringer. However, an infinitesimal fraction of his essence does remainon the Astral Plane, so theoretically it could be revived, given sufficientworship, and could return to haunt the Realms or some other world again.Scheming individuals might have tried to reform the Cult of Moander fortheir own purposes, but a scheming deity beat them to it—Lolth. To thenature-focused elves of Myth Drannor, Moander epitomized the decay androtting evil that could corrupt individual elves and destroy the forests theelves held so dear. In a sense, the Darkbringer was a more comprehensible(and tempting) force of evil to the surface elves than distant Lolth, queenof their exiled, dark elf km. With the Darkbringer’s death, Lolth has takenMoander’s name as an alias of her own. The Spider Queen realized in theaftermath of the Fall of the Gods that, like other gods of the Realms, she,too, was vulnerable to the vagaries of the strength and number of her wor-shipers. Lolth seeks to add surface-dwelling humans, elves, and half-elvesto the ranks of her faithful through her guise as the Darkbringer.

Moander�s Avatar (Fighter 30)

Moander’s most common form in the Realms was known as the Abomina-tion. Thus god-thing as its body used a mass of rotting vegetation and car-rion as large as a hill that rumbled along the ground, scouring it clean ofvegetation, topsoil, and all living things and leaving a putrid, brown slimein its nake. It cast no spells.

AC -4; MV 7, Cl 5, Sw 7, Fl 27; HP 216; THAC0 -9; #AT See BelowDmg See below

MR 30%; SZ G (Varies)STR 25, DEX 16, CON 24, INT 10, WIS 10, Cha 1

Spells None — see belowSaves PPDM 3, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: The Abomination could easily scale vertical surfacesor float across bodies of water. It could emit tendrils at will from any part ofits bulk, including internally, that ended in fanged maws that babbled inan endless cacophony of a thousand disparate voices chanting the god’sname, or in swirling gray-and-white eyes that stared blindly. Although theAbomination was easy to make contact with in combat, its high ArmorClass was a result of the difficulty of actually causing it any noticeablephysical damage. Other Manifestations

For Moander to possess an avatar form constructed by his cultists, themound of rotting material had to be at least 30 feet in diameter. For eachmile of forest the Abomination plowed through, it regenerated 10 hitpoints and grew an extra 10 feet in diameter, up to a maximum of 100 feet.Unless rejuvenated by additional compost, the body of the Abominationalways collapsed into dust and putrid slime in 1d4 months and a new onehad to be found or built, requiring cultists to continually build it new bod-ies in the Realms.

The Abomination could confine its essence to a small piece of its rottingmass and spring forth as a small egg-shaped pod in a single round. This podcould then merge with another hill-sized pile of corruption or slowly growin size again by absorbing more vegetation if the Darkbringer so desired.While less than 30 feet in diameter (because it was compressed into podform or growing from a pod form), the Abomination could swell up withswamp gas and attack with a giant maw that inflicted 4d10 points of dam-age on a successful hit. However, this form was extremely susceptible tofire-any sizable flame that was not snuffed out by the wet rot of its bodywould ignite the gas in a fiery explosion, destroying the Abomination.

For every 10 feet in diameter in size it was, the Abomination could at-tack with 2d8 large tendrils (AC 0, 20 hit points each) each of ahlchended in a lipless, many-fanged maw that could speak with its voice. Suchlarge tendrils were half the Abomination’s diameter in-length and severalinches in diameter. They could either bite and rend flesh (MV 6, THAC07,2d4+4 points damage) or enter any body orifice of an immobilized, livingmammal or reptile and possess the creature’s body and mind. Alternatively,a tendril could disgorge a seed of Moander within the body and then with-draw. The seed then burst, releasing its spores. Tendrils could also hurl largetrees and boulders with a maximum range of 300 yards doing 3d10 points ofdamage with each massive spear or stone. If two or more large tendrils madea successful attack, they could also entangle opponents and over the nexttwo rounds drag them toward the Abomination’s rotting mass where itcould manifest a gaping mouth and bite for 4d10 points of damage perround (no saving throw or attack roll permitted or needed).

Beings overrun and swallowed up by the Abomination were crushed andpierced for 5d6 points of damage per round for ld6+4 rounds before beingthrown up to the top of its body. Once there, wounded captives found them-selves under attack by countless tiny tendrils that rotted away their clothingand nonmetallic parts of their armor in another ld4+2 rounds. Once a vic-tim’s clothing and armor were destroyed, the small tendrils began to rot awayflesh and transform it into compost, causing 3d4 points of damage per round.The Abomination automatically succeeded at attacking with its small ten-drils each round, and no saving throw was allowed to avoid them. There wasa 15% chance per round that a seed of Moander is implanted in the body of abeing on top of Moander and deprived of clothing or armor.

Attempts by captives to tear free from the Abomination’s embrace andto move were hampered by the many grasping tendrils (both tiny andlarge), slowing movement to half rate (and to a maximum of 2 in any roundin which the captive failed a Strength ability check) and preventing anyform of flight, magical or otherwise. A captive held to successfully traversethe Abomination’s bulk and leap free to escape the rotting attacks, andthen such a being still faced a 15% chance per round that a seed of Moanderhad been planted in them during their escape.

Twice per day, the Abomination could vomit forth a shambling mound,and once every three days, a gibbering mouther. Both of these sorts ofspawn of Moander would do its bidding for 1d12 days and thereafter wanderoff to take up their own, independent lives. (Mouthers have no effect onthe plant bulk that is the Abomination.) The Abomination could quenchfires with its bulk if it was composed primarily of wet, rotting material. Ittook no harm from heat or flame unless it was composed primarily of drykindling. In general it liked warmth, which was more conducive to decay,and always suffered double damage from all cold magics.

The Abomination could learn anything contained within a possessedbeing’s mind at will. Doing so gave the possessed being a glimpse into theDarkbringer’s mind as well, which often drove them mad (as adjudicated bythe DM). Although the Abomination could not cast spells directly, it couldhave a possessed being cast any spells the possessed being knew. Likewise,the Abomination’s Intelligence and Wisdom rose (but did not fall) tomatch that of the currently possessed puppet (Minion) of greatest intelli-gence. Finally, the Abomination could create a gate for itself or fly for up tosix hours (by burning swamp gas) at will, but doing so required a tremen-dous expenditure of energy, consuming one month of the Abomination’sexistence in its current avatar form in the process.

Moander could marufest as the mtanglble Image of a rotting hulk that re-sembled a giant, floating, dlsemhodled human mdle head, with 20-foot-long,prehensile tendrils as hair, a many-fanged mouth, and two maliciously glit-tering red eyes. In this form, the god could speak, point and gesture with itstendrils, and establish a mental link with any creature it “touched” withthose intangible tendrils—so that it could whisper to them later in theirdreams by voice or visions. (The link could be broken by use of a removecurse or cure disease spell.)

Moander could also manifest in any decaying matter in Toril, growingout of it as a 20-foot-long, vmelike tendril identical to those originatingfrom the Abomination. If the tendril’s movements brought it to any decay-me: matter (leaf mold, which is present on the ground anywhere in a forest,is enough), it could transfer its “base” to that new decaying mass, leapfrog-ging away from its initial location.

In addition to their normal attacks, such tendrils could also possess im-mobilized, living creatures as described above. Often a tendril’s victims weresleeping, but saketimes they were bound by the Darkbringer’s Minions. If atendril devoured (not possessed) a cumulative tota of warm-blooded (mam-malian) victims that had more than 77 hit points when allve, tt grew a budthat in 1d4 days split into a second, separate vine or tendril that could oper-ate independent of its parent. Tendrils lacking food or decaying matterwithin reach could go dormant for 1d8 months, but shrivelled and died if nosustenance came to them after that time.

Moander was served by a variety of plant creatures and peculiar abomi-nations including algoids, dark trees, gibbering mouthers shamblingmounds, and vegepygmies spawned from russet mold. It sometimes sentblack or green dragons to serve as a steed for the Mouth of Moander (thehead of its church). The Darkbringer also manifested through a variety ofpossessed beings including animals, humans, treants, and various monsters,who were recognizable as being sent from or controlled by it by the vinesgrowing from their bodies. The Great Dread God particularly enjoyed cor-rupting beholders and their kin to serve its will, probably as the result ofsome ancient feud with Bane. Those that were slain while resisting posses-sion by the Darkbringer are transformed into rotting death tyrants (undeadbeholders) upon their demises.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: NoAll clerics and specialty priests of Moander receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.

Servants of Moander had to undergo a ceremony upon their initiationinto the cult in which a seed of Meander was absorbed into the initiate. Thisseed slowly grew throughout the body until the recipient’s entire internalstructure was composed of rotting plant material. The only outward mani-festation was a small flowered tendril emerging from one ear and windingthrough the hair. At all times the recipient was under the direct mental andphysical control of Meander, whenever it so desired, and would always actaccording to the instructions of Moander and the cult.

Moander’s priests tended to be lonely, directionless folk who had found inthe god’s mind visions firm direction in life. Once Moander possessed a bodydirectly, the god’s control over that being became absolute, but the process ofeating them away from within also began. In the case of extremely capable ser-vants, the Darkbringer guaranteed their loyalty by its power to speedily slaythem from within if they proved treacherous, but kept them alive for years bygranting them spells that inhibited the inner rotting (such as slow rot).

Prior to Moander’s death at the hands of Finder Wyvernspur, his clergyIncluded both specialty priests, known as darkbringers, and clerics. After theDarkbringer’s destruction and the death of his remaining clerics, new cultsincluded only specialty priests and lay members in the priesthood. All priestswere known as Minions of Meander. Senior clergy of a temple were HighMinions, and the leader or high priest of a temple was the Master Minion.The supreme Faerûnian priest of the Darkbringer was known as the Mouthof Moander. The clergy members of Moander used no other titles as theywere all simply slaves and puppets of the Darkbringer. There was a 1%chance that any high priest of Meander would be transformed into a skuzupon death. Such undead were known as Undying Minions.

The Mouth of Moander was its supreme servant in Faerûn and was usu-ally (though not always) a human female priestess. Since the death of Mo-gion in ruined Yûlash, the Mouth has been the shrewd mistress of intriguesDalchatha Maereegh, a once strikingly beautiful crone who dwells in theHidden Glades temple somewhere in the Chondalwood near Torsch. Sheadministers a network of capable spies and task forces that capture or slaycreatures destined to feed Great Moander and then teleport them to her orestablish new bodies for the god in remote areas. In return, Meander grantsher mouthful, lush beauty whenever she grows restless, and she can thenventure into nearby human cities to enjoy satisfying (if fleeting) humancompanionship.

Any newly formed Cult of Moander that includes true priests must bebacked by some other dark power than Moander (such as the cult backed by

Lolth). Assuming the cultists do not realize that their divine sponsor is otherthan Moander, it is likely that such a cult will continue as before (albeit withincreased visitations by dark elf emissaries in the case of Lolth’s cult).

Temples of Moander tended to be located on stark hills in wilderness set-tings or in subterranean complexes in urban settings. Those in wildernesssettings were marked by hilltop circles of red, fang-shaped plinths arrangedto resemble a bloody, fanged mouth from above and typically contained analtar in the center of the circle, Those temples located in subterranean com-plexes were often constructed from forgotten sewer tunnels and saw much ofthe garbage and sewage of the city overhead pass through their halls. Thewalls of such temples were carved with tiny, intricate, flowing designs resem-bling tree sculptures grown and shaped by elves, but which depicted horrificimages of heroes suffering deadly tortures at the hands of leering humanoids,being torn apart by chaotic beasts, and being fried, frozen, dissolved, andpoisoned by dragons, beholders, and other deadly creatures. Temporaryshrines to the Darkbringer were constructed in fetid swamps, verdant jun-gles, and rank sewers and consisted of massive compost piles meant to housethe Abomination.

Dogma: Minions of the Darkbringer were charged to feed Great Moan-der with fresh corpses of their own making. They were to hew down strongplants and trees to feed It. Moander’s priests were charged to keep theAbomination and the lands through which it would pass as warm as pos-sible. When a novice was first initiated into the priesthood and possessed bya seed of Moander, the Darkbringer instructed him or her through horrificdreams as follows: “Seek not to question the ways and words of Moander, lestyou be stricken by the Eating From Within. Go forth and possess beings ofpower and influence for me. Slay, and let the rot cover all. Fight against coldwith fire and magic. Fear me, and obey.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Moander’s Minions were a secretive, proudclergy that scoured the land for malformed life (such as mongrelmen and dis-eased plants and beasts) and brutish, destructive beings (orcs and the like) tofeed to Moander. Cultists of Moander strove to spread intelligent vegetablelife throughout the Realms, including algoids, shambling mounds, gibberingmouthers, and vegepygmies (russet mold).

Minions of Moander existed to feed the god, whose decaying powersquickly destroyed any body it animated (always a tangled mass of carrion,dead or diseased plants, and the like). Minions were thus always kept busybuilding new bodies, leading the old ones to fresh food, or infecting othermortals to become new Minions. In rituals and spell-weavings in secludedwilderness ravines and caves, they built the Great Dread God endless newbodies to possess as the Abomination: triangular pyramids of decaying vege-tation, dung, and rotting corpses. Moander animated a “body” as the Abom-ination in a sacred ritual requiring but a single drop of blood from a livingseed that granted the casting priest instant favor and promotion. To beginthe ritual, the priest brought one of Moander’s living, seeds to the new body.Living seeds were sentient mammals or reptiles of high intelligence andgood alignment who had been possessed by a seed of Moander and who had(at least temporarily) survived the process.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The church of Moander had nocalendar-related high holy days except the Balefire. Always held on the firstof Hammer, the Balefire celebrated the will of Moander’s servants to holdback the cold by building huge bonfire in its honor—fires at which the godalways manifested to thank them, to deliver inspirational sermons, and tocharge them with missions to further its power during the cold months whenthe Darkbringer retreated to deep, lava-warmed caverns in the Underdark(and had to be guarded by select faithful Minions against drow, deepdragons, and other dangers of the World Below).

On a daily basis, faithful of Moander had to slay something or gather veg-etable matter in the name of the god and render up their gatherings either tobuild a body for the god or to encourage rot and decay. Each month Moan-der’s Minions had to seek to extend the influence of the god by spreading ru-mors of its power and by bringing a seed of Moander into contact with at leastone new being (while whispering Moander’s name).

Rituals were simple, and Moander did benefit its priests in one specialway: Minions of Moander never caught a disease (including mummy rot andlycanthropy) nor suffered from poisoning no matter what they did. Theycould eat all manner of rotting food, mold, and the like, and drink water thathad been deliberately poisoned or contaminated by decaying things andtake no harm.

Major Centers of Worship: The Abyss of the Abomination, a subter-ranean temple of the Darkbringer located deep beneath Yûlash, survivedMoander’s destruction and is still being run by the Moanderite cultists (un-knowingly backed by Lolth). Tolerated by the Red Plumes of Hillstar,cultists of the Darkbringer are permitted too travel to and from the temple in

exchange for regular, hefty bribes to the local commanders. The temple isentered via a deep shaft hidden in a newly constructed warehouse owned bythe cult. Surrounded by a ring of fanglike red marble stones, the pit is used asa garbage midden by the city’s inhabitants for a modest annual fee. Thecultists serve as an informal dungsweeper’s guild for the slowly rebuildingcity. The temple itself is entered via a recently rebuilt stair that spirals downthe pit wall to a platform halfway down the stair, and the complex is under-going a significant expansion.

Numerous sacred sites of the Darkbringer’s cult survive throughout theRealms and are the site of pilgrimages by Moander’s cultists. West of the cityof Westgate is a ring of seven hills, each the site of a temple to one of theSeven Lost Godsand toppedwith a ring of standing stones. The southern-most hill, known as the Hill of Fangs, isthe site of a simple shrine to theDarkbringer. The standing stones are not mere pillars but huge red plinths ofstone shaped like fangs that point inward. At the center of the ring, meantto suggest the Jawed God, is a bloodstained stone altar. Although the Dark-bringer’s cult is no longer active in the region, cultists gather annually atmidnight on the sixth of Kythorn, the anniversary of Moander’s defeat, toplead for the return of the Jawed God to the area

Affiliated Orders: Moander is served by a secret brotherhood of roguesknown as the Eyes of the Darkbringer. This secretive fellowship has placedone or two members in most of Faerûn’s major cities. The Darkeyes, as theyare known among the faithful, serve as spies and occasionally as assassinsand warn the cult of any brewing threats to their fell rituals.

Priestly Vestments: Moander’s priests tended to dress in everyday garbto conceal their faith when they were “reaping” (gathering material for thegod’s latest body), but within their hidden cave and subterranean cellartemples, they wore cowled robes of mottled green and brown trimmed withnatural vines, symbolizing Moander’s growth fromdecay, and facelessmasksof white with a single eye painted inthe forehead and surrounded byteeth.All senior clergy wore copper-hued robes enchanted so as to afford food for acreeping fungus growththat moved slowly and continuously over them; onlythe Master Minion had a “bare” copper robe. The Mouth of Moander wore aclean white robe bearing the red-embroidered device of an eye surroundedby an open fanged mouth on his or her breast. As puppets of the Dark-bringer, all of Moander’s Minions sported a flowered tendril emerging fromone ear and wrapped throughout their hair.

Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, Minions of Moander dressedpractically in the best armor they could find. Most wore as much of their cer-emonial garb as possible without drawing attention to themselves. Some en-joyed pretending to he druids and dressed appropriately, wielding scimitars.Others favored nondescript brown and green clothing and wielded cudgelsinlaid with shards shaped to resemble fangs. (Sharded cudgels inflict 1d8+2points of damage against size S and size M creatures, and 1d6+2 points ofdamage against size L creatures. They are otherwise treated as clubs.) If pos-sible, Minions carried a small colony of russet mold with them in order toseed new areas with the spawn of Moander.

Specialty Priests (Darkbringers)REQUIREMENTS: Constitution 13, Wisdom 10PRIME REQ.: Constitution, WisdomALIGNMENT: NE, CEWEAPONS: AnyARMOR: AnyM AJOR SPHERESS: All, combat, elemental, healing, necromantic, plant,

summoningMINOR SPHERES: Animal, chaos, time, weatherMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Sharded cudgel (treat as horseman’s mace) or scimitarHerbalism

l Darkbringers cast all spells tram the plant sphere with double the normalarea of effect and duration

l When darkbringers cast plant growth either as spell-like power or normalspell, the spell varies from its normal effect. If the first form of plantgrowth is cast by a darkbringer, the normal riotous growth of vegetationresults, but all affected plants immediately begin to rot and die after atenday unless a successful dispel magic spell is cast before the tenday is up.If the second form of plant growth is cast and the initial saving throw issuccessful, any effect of the spell is negated. If the saving throw is failed,all plants within the one-mile-square area become rotten and diseasedand die within a month unless a bless spell followed by a successful dispelmagic spell is cast on part of the one-mile-square area in the interim inthe name of blessing the entire area affected. If such a combination ofspells are cast, the detrimental effects in the entire area are negated.

• Darkbringers are able to cast entangle (as the 1st-level priest spell) or, ifthe DM allows it, puffball (as the 1st-level priest spell described in theComplete Druid’s Handbook) once per day.

• At 3rd level, darkbringers are able to cast handfang (as the 2nd-levelpriest spell) once per day.

• At 5th level, darkbringers are able to cast speed rot (as the 3rd-level priestspell) or plant growth (as the above variant of the 3rd-level priest spell)once per day.

• At 9th level, darkbringers are able to cast rising rot or spirit trap of theDarkbringer (as the 5th-level priest spells) once per day.

• At 11th level, darkbringers are able to cast roots of the assassin or tentacleof withering (as the 6th-level priest spells) once per day.

Moanderite Spells2nd LevelHandfang (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: The caster’s palmSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a fanged, biting mouth in the palm of the caster’s hand. Itcan readily be concealed by curling the hand into a fist or by placing thepalm of the hand against something. Its bite is under the control of thecaster; it does not automatically snap at anything it touches. The caster canonly deliver the hand’s attack by slapping his or her palm against a target, re-quiring a successful normal attack roll; it can bite once per round.

The bite of a handfang does 1 point of damage and forces the victim tomake two saving throws, one vs. paralyzation and the next vs. spell. If thesaving throw vs. paralyzation fails, the victim is paralyzed for 1d3 rounds; ifit succeeds, this effect is negated. If the saving throw vs. spell falls, themouth’s saliva corrodes the victim, doing 3d4 points of additional damage. Ifthis saving throw succeeds, this damage is reduced to 1d6 points. These twinsaving throws must be made against every bite of a handfang; saving success-fully against one attack does not mean that the victim is immune to these ef-fects. Paralyzed victims who are not actively protected by compatriots orsomehow moved beyond the reach of the spell’s caster are automatically suc-cessfully attacked by the handfang on subsequent rounds while they are para-lyzed if the spellcaster targets them.

3rd LevelSpeed Rot (Abjuration)Sphere: PlantRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: InstantaneousCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell is the opposite of the 3rd-level priest spell slow rot. Speed rot causesfruits, vegetables, and grams to immediately ripen and then rot into a putridslime. It has no effect upon meat of any kind. Plants and plant-based crea-tures within the area of effect suffer 1d6 points of damage per level of thecaster to a maximum of 10d6 points of damage.

The caster can affect as much as 100 cubic feet of plant material perlevel. Thus, even a low-level Minion of Moander could effectively rum afarmer’s stored gram or rot all the fruit on the trees in his orchard.

The material component of this spell is a bit of mold.

5th LevelRising Rot (Evocation, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell generates a glowing brown or green beam of light that stabs outfrom the caster to unerringly strike a chosen target creature, who must bevisible to the caster and within range when spellcasting begins. The beamfades from existence the moment the victim has been struck, and the caster

body more than 20the victim to slowlycold damage who do not receive a (second) heal, a restoration, or a regenera-tion spell have theirdays. At the end ofa day later, if they survived the damage, awaken fully cured.

A newly created puppet of Moander retains all of its previous abilitiesand skills, but all of its thoughts are known to Moander, and it is under thecomplete control of the Rotting God. In addition, the newly created minioncan sprout one or two 10-foot-long tentacles at will from any orifice or di-rectly through its skin. Each tendril (AC 2; 12 hp each; 2d8 points of blud-geoning/constricting damage per successful attack) can attack once perround until destroyed. If a tendril is destroyed, the minion can sprout an-other tentacle the following round. If both tendrils hit a small or man-sizecreature in the same round, the victim is entangled (as the spell of thatname) until she or he is released or escapes.

The material components of this spell are an emerald fragment (basevalue 100 gp) and Moander�s holy symbol.

Spirit Trap of the Darkbringer (Abjuration)Sphere: Plant, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 1 hourArea of Effect: One living creatureSaving Throw: Neg.This spell creates an innocuous-appearing false walnut. Once the spell is cast

victim to live and slowly heal inwardly. Cold magic that deals the infestedpoints of damage also slays the spores� growth, allowingrecover. Typically, victims cured by cure disease, heal, or

Strength and Constitution reduced to half for 20+1d12that time, they slip into a coma, lose 4d4 hit points, and

does not need to concentrate on the spell�s effects past this point. The beaminfects the victim with a mold that sucks moisture and nutrients from livingflesh, causing it to shrivel and turn brown. The target must make a savingthrow vs. spell. Success means only 1d8 points of damage is inflicted by themold, but failure means the victim suffers 2d8+2 points of damage. Onevery round thereafter the victim must make another saving throw vs. spell.The same spell damage (1d8 points or 2d8+2 points) continues until thevictim has successfully saved twice. The second successful saving throwends the spell. Cure disease ends this spell instantly, as does any magic thatkills molds or prevents damage done by them.

Rising rot has no effect on undead creatures, incorporeal beings, or crea-tures lacking body tissue (such as elementals). Sages believe that the Dark-bringer�s cult has fashioned numerous wands, known as wands of rotting,which can cast rising rot upon command.

The material component of this spell is a handful of mold spores from anysource and of any type.

Seed of Moander (Alteration)Sphere: PlantRange: SpecialComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 turnArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell was developed by priests of Moander centuries ago as a method ofenslaving sentient beings to the will of Moander. The spell itself results inthe creation of a seed of Moander, which can then transform a victim into aservant of Moander.

To create a seed of Moander, a priest wraps an emerald fragment in a ballof rotting plant material, Theholy water for 24 hours and then cursed (the reverse of the bless spell) in thename of Moander. The priest then casts seed of Moander while touching the

resulting spherical proto-seed is soaked in un-

proto-seed, transforming the sphere into a green, spine-covered burr aboutthe size and shape of a horse chestnut burr. The seed is sticky, and the spinesend in tiny hooks.

A seed of Moander attaches itself to the skin of any living, sentient crea-ture it comes into contact with who is not already a Minion of Moander.The seed bursts on the round following its attachment and releases a 3-foot-diameter cloud of spores. Seeds may be thrown (range is 10/20/30); however,

ness and transformed into a silhouette. The silhouette then constricts andsqueezes into a tiny, black, marble-size sphere that is pulled by the tendril into

to create it, it can be activated at will by any possessed Minion of Moander byclenching it in a special way. When activated, the round nut radiates a sphereof darkness that expands to the size of a pumpkin to encompass the bearer�shand and forearm in an inky black ball in a single round. In the followinground, the sphere then shimmers like hot tar and emits a vinelike tendril ofglassy black up to 20 feet in length that touches the target being. If the targetfails a saving throw vs. spell with a -4 penalty, she or he is enveloped in dark-

the Minion�s hand, The darkness then dissipates, leaving a clear, crystal wal-nut in the Minion�s hand surrounding the marble-size black sphere that is theimprisoned being. Victims who succeed at their saving throw vs. spell are un-affected by the vinelike tendril, and the spell dissipates immediately.

they do not break open unless they strike living beings. (Treat such seedsthat miss their targets as grenadelike missiles and consult the Scatter Dia-gram in the DMG for where they land.) Any living, sentient creature withinthe area of effect of the spores (who is not already a Minion of Moander)must make a saving throw vs. spell. If it fails the saving throw, the spores areinhaled and begin transforming the host. If it succeeds, the spores are not in-haled, and the transformational effects of the seed of Moander are negated.Unburst seeds of Moander burst when they contact living flesh. They are de-stroyed by being drenched in holy water and blessed (as the spell).

If a victim is not treated, the spores grow, making the creature into apuppet of Moander (one of Moander�s mind-controlled servants) in 4d4days and also turning his or her entrails into a festering mass of rotting,mold-encrusted tendrils that eventually (in 5d6+30 days, unless delayed bythe application of slow rot spells) reduce their host to a dried-out husk,killing him or her. Externally the host appears unchanged until death ex-cept for the faint odor of pollen and a small flowered vine wrapped aroundone ear. A victim who shares body fluids with another creature�as little asa kiss is sufficient�can transfer the spores of a seed of Moander to that crea-ture, spreading the Darkbringer�s influence. (The potential new host re-ceive a saving throw vs. spell at a +2 bonus for each instance of exposure toavoid infestation.)

Only if Moander is completely absent from the Realms (in other words,all of the god�s avatars and manifestations in the Realms have been de-stroyed) is the original host able to express its free will after it would havenormally become a mind-controlled being. However, without the stabilizingeffect of Moander�s power, the body decays at an accelerated rate once theinitial 4d4-day period is passed and becomes a rotting mass of plant materialin a tenday.

If a victim infested with the spores of a seed of Moander drinks holy waterwithin 1 hour of the spores affecting it, the spores dissolve and the victim iscured. If holy water is drunk within 2 days of the spores� entry, their growthis slowed to half rate (in other words, the possession and rotting take twiceas long). A cure disease or heal spell used within 30 days of initial corruptionby the spores stops the possession and the corruption process, allowing the

The clear spirit prison lasts for 1 day per level of the spellcaster. Whenthe crystal nut is shattered or when the spell duration expires, the marble-size sphere of darkness reforms into the shape of the imprisoned creature andthen the darkness dissipates, leaving the victim unharmed.

The material component of this spell is a black sapphire with greenish-yellow highlights of at least 5,000 gp value which is transformed into thefalse walnut.

6th LevelRoots of the Assassin (Conjuration)Sphere: Summoning, PlantRange: 10 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 turnCasting Time: 2 roundsArea of Effect: 5 square yards/levelSaving Throw: NoneThis dark and evil spell creates long, slimy, black roots of foul look and man-ner. These plant things grow from any surface the spell was cast on with as-tonishing speed and attempt to strangle the poor person (or people) whotriggered the spell; they wrap themselves around the neck of their victim.These roots attack collectively as a priest of the same level as the caster.

The caster of this spell chooses exactly what condition triggers it. Thecondition can be of any complexity�for example �Kill only Tallfellow half-lings wearing magical black leather armor with a red rose painted on theirleft shoulders.� However, the spell cannot know the name or alignment of abeing, nor can it be set off by undead or plantlike creatures. The most com-mon way to use this spell is to cast it at a mandatory passage point of the in-tended target (for example, the bed of a king).

This spell creates 1d100 tiny roots per square yard, any of which is suffi-cient to strangle a human-sized opponent. Each of them can project itself upto 5 yards in order to attack. Potential victims thus have to fight several

hundred roots originating from several square yards of surface. When calledforth by being activated, the roots make no more noise than a leaf fallingfrom a tree, so only individuals with an exceptional sense of hearing woulddeny the roots a -4 bonus to surprise rolls.

Entrapped victims can hold their breath a number of rounds equal toone-third of their Constitution score. Beyond that time they must make aConstitution ability check every round with a -2 cumulative penalty or per-ish. Characters with the Swimming proficiency gain an additional round be-fore they begin making Constitution ability checks. Characters with the En-durance proficiency can hold their breath a number of rounds equal to two-thirds their Constitution score and then make Constitution ability checkswith no penalty the first round and accrue only a cumulative -1 penalty perround after the first check.

Victims ensnared by this spell can attempt to sever the roots that stranglethem. The mass of roots is AC 6, but only slashing (Type S) weapons haveany effect against the roots. If trapped victims use any weapon larger than adagger, they suffer a -3 penalty to their attack rolls against the roots. Slashingweapons sever five times their damage roll in roots, and area-of-effect damag-ing spells also destroy that many roots. A total of 2d100 roots and tendrilsholds a victim. If all of them are destroyed and a victim succeeds at a Strengthability check, then she or he is able to escape the spell’s area of effect.

Characters attacking from outside the initial area of effect do not sufferany penalty when attacking the roots. However, they are also are in dangersince the roots can turn in response to their attacks and attack these charac-ters as long as they are within a 5-yard range of the initial area of effect.

The material component of this spell is a rotting leaf or a rotting piece ofwood and the holy symbol of the caster.

Tentacle of Withering (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 6 roundsCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell transforms one of the caster’s arms into a wriggling, eel-like graytentacle, which is rubbery, flexible, can readily adhere to surfaces or graspthings (and release them whenever desired) and is retractable and extensiblefrom the length of the original arm to 36 feet long. The tentacle can grasp ormanipulate objects (at a -2 penalty from the caster’s normal Dexterity), wieldweapons (at a -2 penalty to attack rolls), constrict for 1d8 points of damageplus 1 point per level of the caster in a round, or enact its withering power (ifthe caster wills it to): sucking life energy from a living body it is touching. Towither, the tentacle must make a successful attack roll at the caster’s THAC0plus a +4 bonus. A successful withering attack causes the victim 1d8 points ofdamage plus 1 point per level of the caster and the loss of sensory or motiveuse of the struck body part for one round with no saving throw. (Determinewhich body part is struck through random dice roll between possible targets.)If the head is struck, a round of blindness and deafness inescapably results. Ifa leg is struck, that leg cannot move for one round. A struck arm cannotmove or hold things and drops anything already in its grasp. The tentacle canrepeatedly affect a victim, inflicting another 1d8 points of life-draining dam-age plus 1 point per level of the caster each round and disabling a new limb orthe some limb—if it can maintain contact with the being.

The caster can end this spell early at any time by silent act of will, caus-ing the tentacle to melt slowly away. While the tentacle is disappearing, thecaster does not have any use of the tentacle/limb for one round. While thetentacle is in existence, the caster cannot engage in other spellcasting andmay have limited mobility or be hampered in some activities.

The material components of this spell are a fragment of bone or smallcomplete bone and a piece of rubber or eel flesh.

Myrkul (Dead)(Lord of Bones, Old Lord Skull the ReaperLord of the Dead)Greater Power of the Gray Waste, NEPORTFOLIO: The dead, wasting, decay, corruption, parasites, old age,

exhaustion, dusk, autumnALIASES: N’asr (Anauroch, among the Bedine)DOMAIN NAME: Formerly: Oinos/Bone Castle; currently adrift on the As-

tral Plane

SUPERIOR:ALLIES:FOES:SYMBOL:

NoneBhaal (now dead), Jergal, Shar, Bane (now dead)Chauntea, Lathander, MielikkiA white human skull face-on against a black field or areaching white skeletal hand in white on a black field,(in recent years, either symbol usually shown on an In-verted black shield with a continuous border of white,stylized human fingerbones)

WOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CEMyrkul (MER-kul), one of the Dark Gods, was the godof the dead, as opposed to the god of death, which wasthe province of Bhaal. His portfolio, and his home inHades, the Bone Castle, were both usurped by Cyricafter the Lord of Bones was destroyed atop BlackstaffTower in Waterdeep during the Time of Troubles byMidnight. Later Myrkul’s portfolio passed to Kelemvorwhen Cyric was driven from the City of Strife by an al-

liance of gods and denizens.Myrkul had a cold, malignant intelligence, and spoke in a high whisper.

He was always alert, never slept, and was never surprised. He was neverknown to lose his temper or be anything other than coldly amused when amortal succeeded in avoiding his directives or chosen fates. His influence inFaerûn was imposed through fear, and he was a master of making mortals ter-rified of him through his words and deeds. At times, just to remain unpre-dictable, he seemed almost kind and caring. His cowled skull head wasknown in nightmares all over Faerûn, and he was the one deity that almostall human mortals could picture clearly. Myrkul took care that all mortalsthought of him often—he was even known to materialize beside opengraves, scythe in hand, just to gaze around at gathering mourners for a fewsilent seconds before fading away, in order to remind everyone that he waswaiting for them all.

Myrkul�s Avatar (Cleric 38, Fighter 28, Mage 25)Myrkul enjoyed appearing as a skeleton clad in a billowing black cowled robeand wielding a scythe. He had scaly, wrinkled skin covered with knobby le-sions and black, cracked lips. His eyes gleamed with a cold, evil light andwere so sunken that his face looked like a skull. His chest and torso were barebones, and he had four bony arms, not the usual two. Below the waist hisbones were covered by withered sinews and wasted flesh. He could fly aboutso that his rotting, gangrenous feet did not need to touch the ground.

The Lord of Bones could cast spells from any school or sphere, but hecould not cast spells that created light (not just fire or heat) as their primaryfunction. When he cast spells, he could cast twice the normal number ofnecromantic or necromancy spells per round with triple effectiveness (areaof effect, duration, range, etc.) at a -3 penalty to his targets saving throws(when allowed).

AC -5; MV 15, Fl 18; HP 228; THAC0 -7, #AT 2 (chill touch grip) and 5/2 (scythe)Dmg 2d10+8 (1d10 chill damage, +8 STR) or 2d12+16 (scythe +6. +8 STR, +2 spec.bonus in scythe)MR 60%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 20, DEX 19, CON 21, INT 22, WIS 23, CHA 9Spells P: 16/15/14/14/13/12/10, W: 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/4Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Myrkul’s grip crushed for 1d10 points of damage (plushis Strength bonus) and chilled. The chilling effect was akin to a chill touch,doing an additional 1d10 points of damage with a temporary loss of 1 pointof Strength (no saving throw for either effect) per successful strike. If the sit-uation enabled him to, Myrkul could cast two necromantic or necromancyspells per round (double the normal allowed amount for deities also attack-ing physically), grapple with two hands, and wield his scythe with the othertwo hands. If Myrkul’s scythe ever left his hands, it vanished only to reap-pear in his bony grasp whenever he pleased. His scythe had a similar chillingeffect to his touch; it caused the temporary loss of 1 point of Strength persuccessful strike.

The Lord of Bones could animate or create any type of undead creatureindefinitely by touch. All skeletons or zombies he animated obeyed him ab-solutely. Greater undead that he created were required to perform one ser-vice for him and were then free-willed. Myrkul could also automatically dis-rupt any undead creature of less than divine status with his touch at will,turning it into dust that not even he could reanimate. Myrkul was immuneto all forms of attack by undead creatures of any sort.

If he chose, Myrkul’s grasp could confer flesh rot, the “mummy disease,” inaddition to its normal chilling effect. This contagion negated all cure

wounds spells, caused infected creatures to heal at only 10% of the normalrate, caused a permanent Charisma loss of 1 point every two tendays, andwas fatal in ld6 months. Touched creatures could avoid acquiring this dis-ease with a successful saving throw vs. poison, hut they had to save againeach time the Reaper touched them. Those who acquired the couldbe cured of it with a cure disease spell as normal.

A side effect of Myrkul’s touch was that living creatures saw all thosearound them as moving, talking, clothed skeletons. Victims could not seeflesh, including expressions, moving lips, and so on. This did not mean vic-tims struck by Myrkul automatically assumed that their comrades had be-come undead creatures; the DM must simply describe the effect to playersand let them determine their PCs’ reactions. A struck PC must make an In-telligence ability check every turn until successful in order to end this effect.

Other ManifestationsMyrkul could also choose to appear as a swooping human skull with blazinglights for eyes. It was normal-sized or larger (up to about 6 feet in height) ashe desired, and in all versions was AC 3, moved at MV Fl 27 (A), and van-ished in flame if dealt more than 66 points of damage. (If it were so de-stroyed, Myrkul could not manifest or appear in avatar form anywhere onToril for three days.) Myrkul could also appear as a disembodied flyingskeletal arm that pointed, gestured, or wielded a slashing scimitar. (The sta-tistics for the arm were same as for the skull; the scimitar did 1d8+8 pointsof damage and caused the temporary loss of 1 point of Strength, similar tohis avatar’s scythe.) All of Myrkul’s manifestations retained all the powersof his avatar except the ability to materialize a scythe and to cast two necro-mantic spells in a round; manifestations can unleash only one. (If Myrkul’sspectral arm form loses its scimitar, the weapon dissolves and cannot be re-placed by that manifestation.) Some sages hold that Myrkul could onlymanifest thrice per day on any plane other than the Gray Waste, but thetruth of this assertion is severely doubted, as other powers of greater statureare not 50 lunlted.

Myrkul’s influence on the Realms was manifested through a variety ofservitor creatures. He sent “Deaths” (identical to the minor death associatedwith the Skull card of a deck of many things), skeletons (all types, from crawl-ing claws to blazing bones and crypt things), zombies (all sorts), and a widerange of other undead horrors to work his will. Myrkul unleashed armies ofnight riders astride gaunts against the still-living on more than one occasion.Myrkul sent bats, black panthers or leopards, hell hounds, nightmares, deep-est red roses (that looked black and crumbled into dust when touched), jet,obsidian, onyx, ravens, and crows to show his favor or disfavor and to aid thefaithful or harass his enemies.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: YesCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: YesAll clerics and specialty priests of Myrkul received religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.

The faith of Myrkul was not popular, nor were its priests numerous.Many venerated Myrkul out of fear, and offerings were made in his name atfunerals and other solemn occasions, but few actually worshiped him astheir primary faith. Myrkulyte priests tended to be morbid loners who en-joyed scaring others or enjoyed the power that widespread rumors that it isdeath to touch or act against a priest of Myrkul brings. They took care toconceal their identities, always leaving the locales where they were bornand raised. Some who were romantically attracted to the notion of deathfollowed the god and his teachings, and of these priests about three-quar-ters were specialty priests. Relationships between the various branches ofthe faith of Myrkul were very good, primarily because no single person heldenough power to confidently direct it against others.

Myrkulytes all addressed each other as “Death” or “Most Holy Death”(for senior or elderly priests), adding the honorific before a known name ortitle, as in “Death Williamson,” or “Most Holy Death Trollslayer.” Theu ti-tles (in ascending order of rank) were: Daring One (novice, addressed for-mally by other Myrkulytes as “Daring Death X,” where “X” is the novice’sname); Night Walker, Bone Talker, Shroud Wearer, Crypt Carver, BoneDancer, Ritual Consecrator, Undead Master, Withering Lord, Deathbringer,and Elder Doom (a title used by all clergy who ascended in rank and influ-ence beyond rule over a temple). All of these level titles described a duty orritual of the faith that the priest assumed for the first time upon ascending tothe named rank. For instance, Bone Dancers lead the bone dance ritual (avariant of animate dead), wherein guardian undead were conjured up and

placed around something to be guarded; Ritual Consecrators dedicated al-tars, scythes, and the materials to be used m the making of magical items tothe service of the god; Withering Lords were taught wither, a prayer thatbrought them a spell able to duplicate the powers of a stuff of withering, andDeathbringers gained quench the spirit, a priestly version of finger of death.Specialty priests are known as gray ones or, less politely, as “fingerbones.”

Temples of Myrkul were typically massive mausoleums built aboveghastly subterranean necropolises. Most were covered in a dim haze ofsmoke belched from ever-burning crematoriums. Leering gargoyles adornedthe outsides, and stone statues of men, women, and children in variousstages of death and decay lined the walls of the interior halls. All sorts ofundead creatures, particularly skeletal undead, stalked the halls anddungeons in ancient pursuits. Both living and undead temple guards em-ployed special consecrated scythes (which did 1d12 points of damage) andwielded rechargeable manyskull wands that fired “bone balls” (akin to somereportedly used by ships that sail the skies to other worlds) that streaked upto 120 feet, veering to avoid all mammalian life, and then burst apart to be-come 4d6 skeletons who would attack all intelligent living things aroundthem until destroyed.

The changeover from Myrkul to Cyric, whom the former followers ofMyrkul refer to as Cyruk in their writings, was smooth and took place with-out any of the tensions or incidents that plagued followers of Bane or Bhaal.It was, in the words of one Zeboaster of Ordulin (known to Myrkulytes asZeboaster “the Still Alive-For Now”), “merely changing the name on theletterhead and putting a purple sunburst around the skull outside thetemples.” Of the three evil gods who were slam and their powers given toCyric, the followers of Myrkul provided the best response. The utter placidneutrality of the change (actually relatively enthusiastic for the morbidMyrkulytes) was emblematic of the stoic, unflappable priests of the dead,but might also have been due to the similarity of the two gods, as well as in-dicating that the church had gone through this changeover before. Theabilities of the priesthood changed somewhat, but that was all taken instride by the Myrkulytes.

With Cyric’s defeat in the City of Strife, the portfolio of death and thedead has been rested in the once-mortal Kelemvor Lyonsbane. Most of theMyrkul-worshiping priests have now just as easily shifted to Kelemvor(though some, mainly those of chaotic evil alignment, chose to remain withCyric), although many find Kelemvor’s more peaceful and less fear-inspiringways hard to learn. This easy shift in allegiance has been aided by the factthat all three gods had the same base of operations and the same support hi-erarchy. (All three employed Jergal, the Scribe of the Doomed, as theirseneschal and assistant, and while the nature of the death palace has shiftedfrom a castle of bones to a crystalline tower, it has remained at the same lo-cation.) Kelemvor is more even-handed than Cyric, but far less tolerant ofthe undead than Myrkul was, and so the former priests of Myrkul who areKelemvontes are now going about laying to rest many of the same creaturesthey raised to undeath not that many years ago, a task they find ironic butare not unwilling to undertake. Unless Myrkul is resurrected or some othershakeup occurs in the divine hierarchy of Faerûn, the church of Myrkul is of-ficially dead and only lives on as part of the new church of Kelemvor.

Dogma: The clergy of Myrkul were charged tc make folk fear and re-spect death and the power of almighty Myrkul so that no one stood againstthe church or tied to thwart its activities. Myrkul’s priests were expected tospread the word that touching a priest of Myrkul brings death. They wereexpected to tell all folk that those in the service of Myrkul had perfect pa-tience and could be trusted utterly-and then conduct themselves accord-ingly. Myrkulyte clergy were to teach the stories of past and future “doom-bringers”—mortals who roamed the land avenging dead friends, masters,and blood kin to whom they had sworn oaths, and slaying those whoscoffed or who held other gods supreme over the Lord of Bones.

Initiates to the faith first heard the word of Myrkul through a speak withdead spell cast upon a temple’s most revered deceased former high priest.Such spells allowed all within hearing range to comprehend the corpse’swords. Myrkul spoke through such vessels to say: “Know me and fear me.My embrace is for all and is patient but sure. The dead can always find you.My hand is everywhere—there is no door 1 cannot pass, nor guardian whocan withstand me.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Myrkul, clergy members roamed the Realmsburying the dead and conducting funerals for fees. Their resistance to diseasesmade them popular hirelings for the disposal of plague victims and dealingswith infected lycanthropes and the diseased. They would do all they could tomake the dying comfortable, but viewed death as natural, inevitable, and notsomething to be run from. They placed great value on the influence dead folkcould have (referring to it as “the sacred hand that reaches from the grave”)

both commonplace and perfectly acceptable to Myrkulyte clergy members.Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Myrkul was worshiped on a daily

basis at dusk, and every devout follower was also to proffer a personal prayerat any time during the hours of darkness. The Dusking was a ritual involvingbones, the ashes of cremated humans, and grave dust, and was a remem-brance of how mortal all living beings are and how close death walks behindeach creature. It was centered upon a floating, glowing (thanks to magic)skull that hovered above a black, bone-decorated block or table altar. Offer-ings were accepted at this time from folk who were not devout but whowished to appease the Lord of Bones. They typically had to kneel at altarwhen presenting their offerings. Tolling bells (deep and echoing, never tin-kling or high and metallic) marked the opening and ending of this ritual andwere struck once whenever an offering was made.

and would assist dying folk to draft decrees, wills, and cryptic verses thatwould guide the living to search for their hidden treasure or otherwise danceto their bidding after they were dead. In return for a �skull fee,� a priest ofMyrkul would even agree to act as an agent or avenger for the dead, adminis-tering the wishes of the departed or carrying out tasks they were unable tocomplete before death. (Myrkulyte clergy members never accepted skull feesfrom a living person who recounted the wishes of a dead being, but only fromdeceased persons themselves in arrangements made before�sometimes yearsbefore�death.) While Myrkul rarely allowed his clergy to resurrect the dead,bringing a person to the temple of another faith for attempted resurrectionand paying for this undertaking with money left by the dead was a procedure

There was only one calendar-related ritual observed by the Church ofMyrkul. The Feast of the Moon was known to the faithful of Myrkul as theDay the Dead are Most With Us. Myrkulytes believed that on that day theessences of all dead folk rose and drifted as unseen ghosts across Faerûn andsought their living descendants to deliver messages or warnings (by silentlywriting in dust, sand, or ashes, or by moving objects about, not by speech),or just to observe. To those who worshiped the Lord of Bones, this was a dayto celebrate the dead in chant, prayer, and hymns, culminating in the mid-night ritual of the Flagons of the Fallen, wherein glasses of wine were setalight by spells so the spirits who drank of them could be warmed for a briefmoments in their �eternal chill.�

The only other major rituals practiced by Myrkulytes involved funeral-related observances and the ceremonies some used to accompany their rais-ing (or forcing down) undead. Since these activities were often done forhire, they were frequently dressed up with sinister, impressive rituals to makefolk regard the work of the priests more highly.

Major Centers of Worship: The Skullspire in Tulmon on the shores ofthe Lake of Steam is a soaring, slender black needle of a temple that over-looks both the town and the ruins known as the Crypt City immediately tothe west of the inhabited settlement. Here Deep Elder Doom HaaeluthMuribaert, a soft-spoken but ice-hearted old man of frail health but rapier-keen wits, presides over an energetic Conclave of Doom of senior clergy(known disrespectfully as �Jabberskulls Council� to Myrkulyte clergy mem-bers safely distant from �the shadow of the Spire�) that directs the lesserclergy members, trains them, and goes out among them often to watch whathas befallen. Some of these priests used to experiment with animatingstrange undead assemblages of jaws, claws, and the like from various knownmonsters and their work almost always disappeared down long linking tun-nels to the Crypt City to emerge therein and lumber menacingly about. Thischurch moved smoothly from worshiping Myrkul to worshiping Cyruk in1358 DR, and then to worshiping Kelemvor in 1368 DR. The experimentswith animating odd forms of undead have ceased since the church movedfrom worshiping Cyruk to the worship of Kelemvor, and now priests spend alot of time in the crypts trying to destroy such undead as they once made. Itis rumored that groups wishing to remain secret hold meetings and storevaluables in the heart of the undead-haunted ruins, by financial arrange-ment with the Skullspire. These rumors are very likely true.

The Legacy of Deep Death is the only temple of Myrkul established afterthe Time of Troubles. The temple was constructed through magic by a trio ofMyrkulyte clerical liches (whose spells are believed to be granted by Cyric orVelsharoon, or who may have discovered a lich state enabling them to castpriest spells without a deity) on the sea bed of the Sea of Swords. The seafloor in a 5-mile-radius around the temple is permanently tainted byMyrkul�s dying essence. The brown murk rained down from the sky after theLord of Bones was dimension doored by Midnight away from the city ofWaterdeep while in his final death throes. Myrkul�s legacy is an ever-ex-panding horde of lacedons, sea zombies, and countless other aquatic undeadhorrors that prey on ships passing overhead and denizens of the deep travel-ing through the region. The temple itself is guarded by a monstrous undeadkraken and wildly mutated sahuagin.

Affiliated Orders: The Knights of the Undying Dragon are an ancientorder of undead crusaders who served as the swordarm of Myrkul. The Orderincludes 12 death knight commanders, each of whom commands a companyof 12 skeletal warriors, who in turn each command a platoon of 12 night rid-ers. The death knights all ride nightmares; the subcommanders and troopsride gaunts. It is not known how the group maintains its size, even after arare defeat, but their troop strength never changes. The knighthood is basedin the dungeons of the long-vanished Castle of Al�hanar located in the East-ern Shaar, south of the Sharawood, east of the Great Rift, and south of Azul-duth, the Lake of Salt. It is believed that the order was established before therise of Unther and Mulhorand by the long-vanished kingdom of Eltabranarto guard against invaders from Zakhara. Unwilling to abandon their posts,even in death, the Knights of the Eternal Dragon (as they were known whilestill living) were granted immortality through undeath by the Lord of Bonesin exchange for their eternal servitude.

It is has been several centuries since the last campaign of the UndyingDragons, and the order has been long since forgotten. Companies of undeadknights emerge once each century to destroy a dracolich known only as theEverlasting Wyrm and several of its living spawn who inhabit the Shara-wood (also known as the Drakewood). The Everlasting Wyrm always re-forms after its destruction and begins rebuilding its horde. It is believed thatAl�hanar Castle contains the wealth of at least 10 such hordes in its bowelsand magic not seen since the Imaskari Empire. In the wake of the Time ofTroubles and the death of Myrkul, the death knights have yet to decidewhether to pledge their loyalty to Cyric or Kelemvor or to sweep across theRealms in a wave of murder and destruction until all members of the orderare permanently laid to rest as a fitting tribute to their fallen patron, theLord of Bones.

Priestly Vestments: All priests of Myrkul wore black robes with hoodedcloaks, bound about the waist with a single sash of bone-white hue. Withintemples they went barefoot and sometimes also bared their faces, but in pub-lic they were always masked, wearing half-masks (extending from the fore-head to the upper cheeks) painted to resemble skulls. All exposed flesh wasdarkened with ash.

Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, priests of Myrkul wore the bestarmor available. They always wore a dark hooded cloak along with theirskull half-masks, and even while in the field, they continued to darken alltheir exposed flesh with ash. Priests of the Lord of Death felt no need to hidetheir allegiance as death would come to all eventually�sooner, it was ru-mored, for those foolish enough to molest a Myrkulyte.

Specialty Priests (Gray Ones)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 14, Wisdom 14, Intelligence 14PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomALIGNMENT: NEWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons, scimitars,

and scythesARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, chaos, combat, guardian, healing, necroman-

tic, summoning, timeMINOR SPHERES: Charm, divination, elemental, warMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Scythe or scimitar, astrologyBONUS PROFS: None� Gray ones command triple the normal number of skeletons and zombies.� Gray ones know a great deal about undead creatures and the ultimate

destinations of the spirits of living creatures after they die. This knowl-edge is separated into two fields: necrology and netherworld knowledge.(These fields of knowledge are identical to the necrology and nether-world knowledge nonweapon proficiencies from the Complete Book ofNecromancers.)

Necrology: Gray ones are well versed in necrology, the lore of undeadcreatures. When checking their necrology knowledge, gray ones make anability check against their Wisdom score. Their knowledge may be usedto help determine the probable lairs, dining habits, and history of suchcreatures (no ability check needed). Whenever a gray one confronts anundead creature, she or he may be able to specifically identify the crea-ture (discerning between a ghast and a common ghoul, for instance)with a successful ability check. In addition, provided the gray one makesanother successful ability check, she or he recalls the creature�s specificweaknesses and natural defenses or immunities. At the DM�s discretion afailed ability check (in either of these cases) reveals misleading or evencompletely erroneous information which may actually strengthen or oth-erwise benefit the undead creature.

Netherworld Knowledge: Gray ones steadfastly serve Myrkul, who seesto the disposition of the dead, and so obtain a great deal of arcane knowl-edge. When checking their netherworld knowledge, gray ones make anability check against their Wisdom score minus three. Gray ones learnabout the cosmology and organization of the Outer Planes and how thisspecifically relates to the Realms, focusing primarily on the ultimate des-tination of spirits after death. In addition, gray ones learn about the dan-gerous behavior of the creatures that inhabit the nether regions, includ-ing such fiends as tanar’ri and baatezu. With a successful ability check tothe modified Wisdom score, netherworld knowledge can reveal the spe-cific weaknesses and natural immunities of beings from the Outer Planes.Netherworld knowledge can also be used to classify the exact type of ex-traplanar creature encountered with a successful ability check.

l Gray ones are unaffected by disease or parasites. They are not immune toparasites or disease as paladins are, but are unaffected by a disease’s debil-itating game effects. A gray one could have the gray death obvious in hisrotting, dry face, and be spreading it throughout the land, but he wouldsuffer no penalties from the disease. Fatal diseases continue to rot thebody until the gray one drops over dead, but they have no game effectuntil that time.

l Gray ones gain a +1 on their saving throws vs. death magic. This bonusdoes not apply when using or defending against the Hand of Myrkul (seebelow).

l Gray ones are able to feign death once per day (as the 3rd-level priestspell, but affecting only themselves).

l At 5th level, gray ones are able to animate dead (as the 3rd-level priestspell) or corrupt (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day.

l At 9th level, gray ones are able to wither once per day (as the 5th-levelpriest spell).

l At 10th level, gray ones can summon a minor death to fight for them. Aminor death appears as a skeleton wearing a robe and wielding a scythe.A minor death can be summoned once per tenday. The summonedminor death fights obediently for 10 rounds (1 turn) or until the fight isover, whichever comes first, and then disappears. If the minor death dis-appears before killing its opponent, another minor death cannot be sum-moned until the gray one kills a living creature. Characters slam by aminor death can be raised again.

Minor Death (1): THAC0 1; #AT 1; Dmg 2d8 (scythe); AC-4; HD 8; hp 33; MV 18; SA THAC0 of 1 and automatic initia-tive roll of 1; SD cannot be disarmed; immune to cold, fire, poi-s o n , a n d e l e c t r i c i t y d a m a g e , s l e e p s p e l l s , a n d a l lenchantment/charm spells (as if an undead creature); cannot beturned; SZ M (6 feet); INT average (10); AL N; ML fearless (20);XP 5,000.

l At 15th level, gray ones can call up the Hand of Myrkul. This is a verydangerous power is only used by gray ones in the most dire of situations.It may be called forth only once a tenday. Invoking the Hand of Myrkulcauses a gray one’s hands to flame for six rounds. The Hand must be usedto touch a creature (with a successful attack roll) in this time, or thepower is wasted, never to be used by that gray one again. (A wish can re-verse this.) If the Hand of Myrkul touches any living being (regardless ofsize), the being must make a saving throw vs. death magic. If the targetfails, it is instantly slain, its body is reduced to dust, and the Hand ofMyrkul is extinguished until a tenday has passed. If the target succeeds,the gray one must then make a saving throw vs. death magic (withoutthe usual bonuses for being a gray one) or suffer the same fate as the tar-get would have. If both target and gray one succeed at their savingthrows, then the Hand of Myrkul is still operating and may be used thenext round (up to the six-round time limit).

Myrkulyte SpellsIn addition to the religion-specific spells found here, it is recommended thatthe potential spell selections of Myrkul’s clergy be expanded to include thepriest spells found in the Complete Book of Necromancers.

2nd LevelBone Bite (Alteration, Evocation, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, Necromantic

Range: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 5

Area of Effect: One bone or bone fragmentSaving Throw: NoneThis spell causes any bone or bone fragment to become a razor-sharp pair ofjaws that bite any living being they strike except the caster. They eitherbite someone they are in contact with or someone they are thrown at andstrike. The caster throws the bone jaws at his or her normal THAC0. Thebone bite jaws bite once for 1d6+4 points of damage and remain attached,bony fangs clinging, as they transform into athe next round that automatically strike for

second, arching pair of jaws onan additional 1d4+2 points of

damage.Any amount of time can elapse between the casting of the spell and its

biting attacks; a caster can pick up and throw bone bite jaws several times ifthey fail to hit a target or leave the jaws in a niche or corridor as a trap.They even function underwater and so can be hidden in a pool or bucket ofwater. A priest can have no more bone bite spells than four times his or herlevel left undischarged. Additional bone bite spells may be memorized, butfail to work when cast if they exceed the limit. Bone bite teeth can puncturearmor, carapaces or bony plates, dragon hide, and all known nonmagicalbarriers and substances. Undead creatures are unaffected by this spell, andbone bite jaws do not bite them.

The material component of this spell is a bone or bone fragment.

4th LevelCorrupt (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spellweak spot

enables a priest to contaminate pure wateror irregularity (handhold or visible mark)

or substances, create ain a wall of solid stone

or surface of armor plate, and otherwise modify substances harmfully. Mag-ical potions affected by a corrupt spell are reduced in the healing they be-stow by 1d4 points; if no hit points are involved in their effect, their dura-tions are reduced by 1d4 rounds. Holy water becomes merely water, but un-holy water is doubled in efficacy (harmful effects). Normal drinking waterremains drinkable, but it tastes tainted and does not cleanse things washedwith it. Corruptedduced by 3 points,

items haveunless they

all their item saving throws against harm re-are magical. In addition, if an item is used as

a weapon, the damage it inflicts is reduced by 2 points per attack for 1d3turns. All magical functions and properties of enchanted items cease for1d3 turns, though their own item saving throws are unaffected.

The caster of this spell must choose a single nonliving item or body ofliquid to be affected by the spell. The magic does not affect all of a soliditem larger in volume than the caster’s body. In such cases, only a localizedarea is affected. For instance, a priest trying to contaminate a lake or largepool would succeed only in harming the water closest to his touch or thechosen area of effect that equals his body volume, not all the water). Cor-rupt involves a momentary flickering green radiance over the spot or item itis aimed at, but operates silently.

If three corrupt spells are cast on a single nonmagical item or on a spe-cific spot in a large item (for instance, a place on a wall), the item must suc-ceed at an item saving throw vs. acid or shatter/collapse/fall away, causing ahole at that location. Minor breakage in large items (in other words, a holeor cavity reaching a few inches into a thick stone wall) can be expanded bycasting additional trios of corrupt spells. Through the use of corrupt, an im-prisoned priest of Myrkul could, over time, breach a cell wall or cause man-acles to fail.

5th LevelWither (Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 6 roundsCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: One creature touchedSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell enables a priest of Myrkul to duplicate the powers of a staff ofwithering. Once cast, the spell lasts for up to six rounds or until a successfulattack to touch a victim is made. The priest of Myrkul may take other ac-tions once the spell is cast and need not concentrate to maintain it, though

the effect of the spell can only be transmitted through the priest’s hand oranother limb, not a weapon.

A successful hit inflicts 1d4+1 points of damage, ages the victim by 10years, and, if the victim fails a saving throw vs. spell, causes one of the crea-ture’s limbs to shrivel and become useless. Check by random number gener-ation for which limb is struck. (For example, on humanoid creatures roll1d4: 1=right arm, 2=left arm, 3=right leg, 4=left leg.) The aging effectcauses the victim’s abilities and lifespan to be adjusted for the resulting ageincrease and can cause ability scores to drop or an elderly victim to die of oldage.

All effects are permanent unless cured. Regenerate restores a witheredlimb to normal, and rest or curative magic cure the damage done, but only alimited wish, wish, or other magic specifically able to cure or abate aging canrestore the victim’s youth.

This spell has no effect on beings bearing holy symbols of Myrkul. Age-less creatures and noncorporeal beings (undead, elementals, tanar’ri,baatezu, and other powerful extraplanar beings) cannot he aged or withered.

6th LevelDolorous Decay (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One injured living creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell affects a single currently injured living being; undead and healthycreatures are immune. Dolorous decay is a rotting and withering of the bodythat spreads from existing injuries causing additional damage. The targetedcreature receives a saving throw vs. spell against dolorous decay. A targetcreature who succeeds at this initial saving throw is slowed (as the spell ofthat name) for 1 round by the impact of the spell but is then free of furthereffects. If the initial saving throw fails, the victim suffers 1 point of damageper level of the caster of the dolorous decay, is slowed for the following round,and is then allowed a second saving throw. If this saving throws succeeds,the spell ends without further effect; if it fails, the victim takes half the pre-vious decay damage (round fractions down), and is slowed for a third round.

This cycle of saving throws and resulting damage continues, each bout ofdamage being half that suffered on the previous round, until a minimum lossof 1 point is reached; at that point only 1 point of damage continues to beinflicted until the victim succeeds at a saving throw. The cycle of spreadingdecay continues until the victim dies or succeeds at a saving throw, whichbreaks the spell. Dolorous decay is not contagious, but it can (at the DM’s op-tion) cause loss of mobility or the use of limbs if the damage is severeenough. (Typically over half the victim’s hit points must be lost.)

Quench the Spirit (Necromancy)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 60 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: Neg.This spell is a priestly version of the 7th-level wizard spell finger of death.Quench the spirit snuffs out the victim’s life force. The casting priests utterthe spell’s incantation, points the finger bone at the victim, and snaps it.The victim is entitled to a saving throw vs. death magic. If the saving throwis successful, the victim does not die, but the spell still inflicts 2d8+1 pointsof damage upon the victim. If the subject dies of this damage, she or he canstill be revived normally. If the victim fails the saving throw, death occursimmediately. The victim can neither be raised nor resurrected.

In human subjects who failed their saving throws, the spell initiateschanges to their bodies such that after three days the caster can, by means ofa special ceremony, animate their corpses as ju-ju zombies under the controlof the caster. This zombie-creation ceremony requires simply the priest’sholy symbol and six vials of unholy water. These mystic changes can be re-versed before animation by a limited wish or a similar spell cast directly uponsuch a body preventing the ceremony from working on that victim. A fullwish restores the subject of quench the spirit to life.

The material component of this spell is a fleshless human finger bone.

Mystra(The Lady of Mysteries, the Mother of All Magic,Our Lady of Spells)Greater Power of Elysium, NGPORTFOLIO: Magic, spells, the weaveALIASES: Midnight, Mystryl, the Hidden One (Rashemen)DOMAIN NAME: Eronia/DweomerheartSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Azuth, Kelemvor, Selûne, Oghma, Deneir, MililFOES: Cyric, Bane (now dead), TalosSYMBOL: A circle of nine stars, with a red mist rising toward (or

flowing from) its center or a circle of seven blue-whitestars, or (older) a single blue-white star

WOR. ALIGN.: AnyMystra (MISS-trah) is the goddess of magic andwith that the goddess of possibilities, which makesher arguably the most powerful deity in Faerûn andpossibly throughout Realmspace. She is said to havetaught the first spellcaster of the Realms, and tohave enabled many of the races to use magic. Shesupposedly weighs and judges each new spell ormagical item to determine whether it should be per-

mitted into the Realm is. She is most venerated by wizards and those whouse magic or magical items in their daily use. She differs from Azuth in thatAzuth is the god of wizards (as to a much lesser degree, all spellcasters),while Mystra is the goddess of the essential force that makes all spellcastingpossible. She provides and tends the Weave, the conduit to enable mortalspellcasters and magical crafters to safely access the raw force that is magic.Mystran advisers are common in Azuthian churches, and vice versa.

During the Time of Troubles, the former incarnation of the goddess ofmagic, Mystra, was destroyed and her essence merged with that of the landitself. A new goddess of magic, arising from the human form of the magicianMidnight, took the mantle of divinity and the goddess’s portfolio. At thistime, the goddess of magic’s alignment shifted from lawful neutral, main-taining the balance in use of magic, to neutral good, reflecting the new in-carnation’s attitudes toward the uses and purpose of magic. Rather than forc-ing her worshipers to change their ways, Midnight has taken a conservative,long-term strategy by assuming the name and trappings of her predecessor tomake the change as smooth as possible for her church and worshipers. Mid-night is now revered within the church as the human avatar of Mystra, andher form now graces the avatar of the goddess when she walks the Realmsseeking to rebalance the dead and wild magic areas of the land.

In the past, Mystra contested with Talos and Gond as rivals and withboth Bane, and later, Cyric over attempts to control or usurp her power.She despises Cyric.

Mystra is fond of Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead, who has her love duringher mortal life. Whether their relationship will again blossom into love isyet to be seen. She is aided in her work by Azuth, Dornal the Watcher, andby her Chosen: Elminster, Khelben “Blackstaff’ Arunsun, and the SevenSisters. (The powers of the Chosen are discussed extensively in The SevenSisters accessory.) Mystra is also served by the Magister, a title borne by asingle mortal worker of the magical arts chosen by victory in one-on-onespell combat to be champion of magic. The Magister is also one of the Cho-sen of Mystra. The current Magister, Lady Magister Nouméa, was elevatedto the position in 1354 DR.

Mystra�s Avatar (Mage 40, Cleric 40)Mystra was formerly seen by most mortals only as a prismatic-hued will o’wisp. The new incarnation of Mystra (Midnight) prefers to appear as abeautiful human female with dark, flowing hair and radiant skin. She wearssimple, but elegant, darkly colored robes of the finest heavy silk and a jew-eled bodice-clasp that appears to be a web. This clasp symbolizes the magi-cal Weave over which Mystra is sovereign. Mystra can use any spell of anyschool or sphere ever used on Faerûn.

AC -6; MV 15, Fl 24, HP 196: THAC0 -6; #AT 1Dmg 1d10MR 100%, SZ L (10 feet)STR 14, DEX 19, CON 22, INT 25, WIS 19, CHA 23Spells P: 16/15/15/13/12/11/11, W: 9/9/9/9/9/9/9/8/8Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: In whatever form she takes, Mystra can employ twooffensive and two defensive or miscellaneous magics per round (spells,item effects, etc.). She is unaffected by magic of any sort unless she wishesto be.

All spells Mystra casts can range from triple normal range in all respects(duration, damage, area of effect, etc.) and a -3 penalty to saving throwsagainst them to minimum effect or any range in between, as she desires.Mystra can creatively reshape areas of effect to suit her desires, changingcubic forms to spherical ones, making “holes” in an effect so that a being isavoided, etc. Even after she runs out of her normal number of spells, Mystracan tap into the Weave to create one offensive and one defensive or miscel-laneous magical effect or spell per round indefinitely and infinitely.

She can-withdraw a being’s Access to the Weave and prevent it from usingspells of any sort, and in an even harsher restriction she can also prevent abeing from using any sort of magic whatsoever if she wishes. These conditionspersist until she removes them. Mystra can even deny deities access to theweave, but shethrough prayer.

cannot deny powers the ability to grantIf she wished to deny the ability to cast

‘their worshipers spellsspells to all of a deity’s

clergy, she would have to deny all those people access to the Weave individu-ally-a radically unbalancing action that Ao would gravely disapprove of.

Other ManifestationsMystra’s typical manifestation is as a blue-white, pulsing glow on items, be-ings, or places that the goddess wishes to draw attention to, such as a hiddendoor or item. She alsomale hand outlined in

appears as a slender, graceful, disembodied human fe-blue-white motes of light that points, gestures, writes,

inscribes lines on stone with one finger—often writing the tomb inscriptionof a powerful dead mage as an obscure clue—or unleashes spells.

Mystra has also been known to use agathinons (in natural and magicalobject forms); devas; maruts; light aasimons; einheriar (former wizards andother prominent users of magic); hope, faith, and courage incarnates; radi-ant mephits; guardinals of all sorts; hollyphants; gem and metallic dragons(including steel and mercury dragons); pseudodragons; selkies; bluejays;sparrowhawks; white cats, dogs, donkeys, horses, pegasi, unicorns, andmules (all with blue or mismatched eyes); blue and clear gemstones of allsorts; rainbow tourmalines; amarathas; rogue stones; beljurils; and smallcreatures composed of translucent magical force to demonstrate her ap-proval or disapproval or to send aid to her faithful.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, wizards, bardsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, NC, CC, LN, CN, LETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, if good or neutral, SP: Yes, M: No, B: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, if evil, SP: No, M: No, B: NoAll clerics and specialty priests of Mystra receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Mystra are granted weaveglow(see below) upon their initiation.

Most worshipers of the Lady of Mysteries are human, hut all natives ofFaerûn who seek to become powerful in magic without benefit of divine aidmust at least appease the goddess with sacrifices. (Burning items that havetemporarily been enchanted with a spell is the easiest way to do this.) Wiz-ards, especially good wizards, hold her name in special veneration, even ifthey primarily worship Azuth or some other deity.

All wielders of magic and seekers after arcane lore of any race are wel-come in the service of Mystra. The hierarchy of the Mystran faith is wideand varied, separating into orders concentrating on one form of magical en-ergy or another. Clerics, specialty priests, wizards, and bards can all hefound in its ranks without regard to experience level or origin. The generalrule of the Mystran faith is that talent and ability for the job outweighs so-cial rank or legendary feats. Only those clergy members who gain theirspells directly from a higher power gain their spells directly from the god-dess, but all are welcome within the church’s hierarchy. Relations betweenthe various orders and subgroups of the faith are very good. The priests ofMystra are known as Servants of Mystery. Higher level priests, both thosewith title and lands and legendary adventuring priests, are called Ladies orLords of Mystery. Titles within the faith vary from temple to temple and fol-low no standard form across the whole of the church, though most templesare rigidly self-consistent.

Mystran temples can be structures of almost any size or style, and someshrines are natural carves or special grottoes. Through the grace of the god-dess, Mystran priests who stand in a place sacred to Mystra can cast spells forthe maximum possible damage, duration, or extent of effect (their choice ofwhich). Such places include all Mystran temples and shrines, and most pri-vate spellcasting chambers.

All priests of Mystra can cause their own flesh-all of it, or specific areas,such as a hand-to glow at will with a soft, blue-white radiance as a boonfrom Mystra. This radiance, known as weaveglow, is enough to read by or toallow a priest to clearly see items and surroundings within 5 feet. Most Mys-trans keep this sign of the favor of the goddess secret from nonbelievers. Assomething mysterious, it is more useful, allowing them, for example, to feignaffliction or magical attack. Weaveglow is granted to priests after their initia-tion, which is often a Starflight ceremony.

Dogma: Choice, decision, and knowledge, leavened with a healthy doseof good for the most individuals, are the hallmarks of Mystra’s faith. Magic isgreat power, and it brings with it great responsibility. Mystra’s clergy aregiven the following charge upon aspiring to the faith:

“Love magic for itself, not lust as a ready weapon to reshape the Realmsto your will. Learn when not to use your magic, and you will have learnedtrue wisdom. Play with magic and learn how best to wield it, but not whenthe price is paid by others. Strive to use magic less and less as your powers de-velop, not more and more; often the threat and promise of Art outstrips itsperformance.

“Remember always that magic is an Art, the Gift of the Lady, and thatthose who can wield it are privileged in the extreme. Conduct yourselfhumbly, not proudly, while being mindful of this.

“Use magic deftly and efficiently; eschew carelessness and recklessness inthe unleashing of Art. When magic imperils you, hide it or hurl it away intoother planes rather than destroy it, for any destruction of Art is a sin.

“Seek always both to learn new magic and to create new magic, but ex-perimenting to learn to craft something oneself is better than merely buyingscrolls or hiring tutors. Exult more in creation than in hurling spells, and en-sure that your creations are shared with others and so outlive you. Thosewho succeed in this last and in maturing into true wisdom and considerationfor the greater balance of things in Faerûn in the use of Art are most favoredin the eyes of the Lady and will serve her beyond death as beings who havebecome one with magic and live on in it forever.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Mystran clergy work hard to preserve all magi-cal lore in secret libraries, private safeholds, well-guarded research laborato-ries, and small, hidden stashes so that magic flourishes in the future regard-less of what befalls the thinking races of Faerûn or the powers of the planes.Mystrans also search out beings skilled in spell use, seeking to keep watch onthe identities, powers, and behavior of individuals likely to become magic-wielders of importance.

Not everyone can find old magic of note, but all clergy of Mystra can de-vise their own new magic upon gaining sufficient experience, and they areexpected to do so. In this way magical study remains a growing, vibrantthing, and magic does not merely become a handy power to serve rulers andengineers as a tool to tame the Realms, but remains a thing of wonder.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: In Waterdeep, the church of Mys-tra celebrates Gods’ Day on the 15th of Marpenoth, the anniversary of Mid-night’s elevation to divinity as the new Mystra, with a huge festival centeredaround the House of Wonder that ends in magical fireworks that go longinto the night. This holiday is being gradually adopted by shrines andtemples of Mystra throughout Faerûn.

On the whole, though, the worship of Mystra tends to he a personal thingrather than a series of calendar rituals. For some mages whom the goddesscounts as devout believers, it never goes beyond a whispered prayer ofthanks to her with each spell they cast coupled with some thought as to themoral consequences of the use of this or that spell. For Mystra, that isenough. The goddess gains both delight and strength, however, from beingswho do more in reverence to her. Two ceremonies of personal significancestand out: Starflight and Magefire.

Starflight is often used as an initiation when an individual joins the priest-hood of Mystra or a celebration when two worshipers are wed. It is a specialceremonial cooperative magic worked by several priests that empowers one ofthe faithful to fly 50 long as stars are visible in the sky. This can make longJourneys easy, provide a joyous change of pace, serve as a special means oflooking over the land, achieve privacy for important discussions, place one ofthe faithful a safe distance away from precious things in order to try hurlingspectacular spells, or provide a very special beginning for one’s marriage.

Magefire is renewal; it is the exciting feeling of great magical power surgingthrough one’s body, blaring out as flickering blue fire as it spills forth, cleansingand renewing. With enough clergy powering it, this cooperative ceremonialmagic can heal all sorts of fell conditions. Mystrans describe it as “the mostblissful feeling one can know.” It is spectacular to watch. The Mystran to he af-fected lies down on the ground and the circle of celebrants pours power intothe worshiper—until his or her body, blazing with blue fire, slowly rises tohang in midair above those fueling the ceremony, humming and crackling

with the power of the magic surging through it. Magefire often ends in aStarflight ceremony, provided the celebrants intone the correct incantation.

The Hymn to the Lady is a solemn ritual performed at funerals and mage-moots, that calls up visions of dead mages and Mystran clergy as a plainsongdirge is intoned by the living clergy present. Mystra often uses these visionsto insert her own guiding scenes. A modified Magefire ceremony may be em-ployed at the end of the Hymn to raise the honored dead aloft into a floatingpyre on high.pyre on high.

Major Centers of Worship: On the wooded eastern verge of Elventreestands a ruined, overgrown stone hall known as the House of Mysteries. It isreportedly the strongest place of power to Mystra in all Faerûn (along withthe nearby Harper refuge, the House of the Harp).

Those who enter the House of Mysteries say that the inside is like a sound-eating dark void where soft voices whisper and glowing, varicolored motes oflight drift about. No spell can illuminate this darkness, and out of it comes theVoice of the Goddess (or a senior devotee) answering questions with crypticadvice, identifying items apparently without need of spells, and (rarely) alter-ing supplicants with spells that come “out of nowhere.” Word of such puissantdivine aid and guidance has spread swiftly across Faerûn, and wizards from dis-tant realms indeed have come to Elventree in search of grandeur.

The largest temple to Mystra in all the Realms is located in Mt. Talath inHalruaa. If occupies an entire cavern complex, and its high priestess, Lady ofMystery Greila Sontoin, is very old but still capable of performing powerfulceremonies and casting mighty spells. The grand temple of the complex isopen to all who want to worship, but the storerooms and libraries are onlyopen to all who want to worship, but the storerooms and libraries are onlyopen to Halruaans of proven good intentions and of Mystra’s faith. Non-Halruaans are sometimes admitted to certain libraries and halls deemed tocontain nonsensitive items and reference works, but usually such admit-tance is at the price of a very steep admission fee.

Affiliated Orders: Most wizards and bards in the Mystran church aremembers of the clergy and belong to no special order, though the church ofMystra has close ties with Those Who Harp (the Harpers), an organizationworking for good and against the rise of great powers throughout Faerûn.Those bards who are not clergy members belong to the Children of theStarry Quill and often work as information gatherers and rumormongers forthe church or spend part of their time in designated libraries unearthingmagical knowledge and then preserving it for posterity. Some members ofthe Starry Quill are also Harpers.

The church also sponsors a knightly order of paladins and a small order ofrangers. The paladins, the Knights of the Mystic Fire, are granted their spellsby Mystra. They often accompany members of the clergy on quests to locatelost hoards of ancient magic and also form the cadre from which the leader-ship for the small groups of armed forces who guard Mystra’s larger templesand workshops is drawn. The rangers, known as the Order of the ShootingStar, also receive their spells from Mystra. They serve as long-range scoutsand spies for the church and also deal with magical threats that threaten thenatural order of things, such as unloosed tanar’ri and baatezu and creaturesborn of irresponsible wizardly experimentation.

Priestly Vestments: The ceremonial garb of Mystran priests is simple bluerobes that are sometimes trimmed with white. They are accented by a cloak ofdeep blue in colder climates. Some form of headgear is required, though thismay range from a simple blue skullcap for the scholarly orders of the SwordCoast North to wide, ornate, blue hats and helms in southern lands.

Mystra’s symbol was a blue-white star before the coming of the Avatarsand now is a circle of stars in a ring, with a red mist rising toward (or flowingfrom) the center. Both symbols are still in use. Mystran priests are very toler-ant of the older symbology and beliefs in Mystra, as they feel that one mayonly press forward by learning about the past. They let established symbolsof the old Mystran faith stand, but when creating new symbols, they alwaysuse the new sigil of their goddess.

Adventuring Garb: In the field, priests of Mystra wear armor and bearthe new symbol of Mystra on their shields as a display of their faith. If armoris inappropriate, they dress in the fashion of the land they inhabit appropri-ate for the inclement weather.

Speciality Priests (Dweomerkeepers)REQUIREMENTS: Intelligence 14, Wisdom 12PRIME REQ.: Intelligence, WisdomALIGNMENT: LN, CN, NGWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: A n yMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, chaos, charm, combat, creation, divination,

elemental, guardian, healing, law, necromantic, numbers,protection, summoning, thought, time, travelers, wards

MINOR SPHERES: Animal, plant, sun, weatherMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, plus all items normally usable by wizards

except scrollsREQ. PROFS: SpellcraftBONUS PROFS: Astrology• Dweomerkeepers have a +2 bonus to their saving throws against any sort

of magic.• Dweomerkeepers function normally in both dead magic and wild magic

areas.• Once per day, dweomerkeepers can detect magic. The ability lasts for a

turn, and the dweomerkeeper has a 10% chance per level to recognize ifa certain type or certain sphere of magic is present. The ability functionsotherwise as the 1st-level wizard spell detect magic

• Dweomerkeepers can read magic as the 1st-level wizard spell and can alsoread the different mage-script used in the South in Mulhorand and else-where (a script usually unreadable with read magic). This does not enablethem to cast wizard spells, merely to understand all magical writings.At 3rd level, dweomerkeepers gain the ability to cast Nystul’s magicalaura (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once a day. The faithful refer to thisability as Mystra’s lingering touch. Dweomerkeepers need only touch anappropriate object to use this ability.

• At 5th level, dweomerkeepers are able cast dispel magic (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell) once a day.

• At 7th level, dweomerkeepers can cast priest spells faster than otherpriests. Their casting time on all priest spells of one round or less is re-duced by 3 (for example, a casting time of 7 would be reduced to 4).Spells taking more than one round to cast still require the usual amountof time. Priest spells cast by a dweomerkeeper always have a casting timeof at least 1.

• At 9th level, dweomerkeepers are able to air walk (as the 5th-level priestspell) or convey the ability to air walk to a mount they are riding once aday.

• At 15th level, dweomerkeepers become immune to the effects of anythree specific spells they choose.

Mystran Spells3rd LevelStarflight* (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental Air, TravelersRange:Components:

10 yards

V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 2 turnsArea of Effect:Saving Throw:

One to three worshipers of MystraNone

This cooperative spell requires at least two Mystran priests casting the spellsimultaneously. For every two additional Mystran clergy members (of anyclass) who participate in the ceremony, another Mystran worshiper can beaffected, to a maximum of three worshipers. Other participating clergymust either cast starflight or donate three spell levels of magical energy tothe spell. Clergy who donate energy lose three spell levels of spells frommemory as if they had been cast. Portions ofa spell donated result in theloss of the whole spell as if it were cast. This spell bestows on its recipientthe capability of magical flight. It empowers a worshiper of Mystra to movevertically and horizontally at MV 24 (A), and at MV 12 (A) if ascendingand MV 36 (B) if diving sharply. The spell recipient can swoop and risewith a mere thought and can carry up to his or her own body weight alongin flight. It lasts as long as stars are visible in the sky, normally ending withsunrise, but possibly terminating earlier because of a storm or heavy fog.

4th LevelAnyspell (Alteration)Sphere: Charm, Creation

0R a n g eComponents: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: NoneThis spell allows the caster to read and then later cast any wizard spell of 1stthrough 5th level. Such a spell is readable via a read magic ability conferred

with the casting of anyspell, but only one spell can be read and cast for eachcasting of anyspell. Merely reading the titles of spells on scrolls or in spell-hooks to find a desired spell does not exhaust the magic of the anyspell; an

entire spell must be read. Once anyspell is cast and a wizard spell is read, thewizard spell is retained in the priest’s mind until the priest casts it. Such wiz-ard spells are cast precisely as if by a wizard of the same level as the castingpriest, except that the user of an anyspell needs no material components towork the wizard spell.

While the priest has the wizard spell in mind, she or he cannot pray for aspell to replace the still-pending anyspell. In effect, one 4th-level spell slot is“lost” until the wizard spell is cast, at which point the duration of anyspellcomes to an end. Note that in order to make effective use of this spell, thepriest must borrow the spellbook of a wizard friend or use a found wizardscroll. (Priests of Mystra are not otherwise able to use wizard scrolls.) Usinga scroll in this fashion uses up the spell read from the scroll.

Magefire* (Abjuration, Necromancy)Sphere: Healing, Necromantic, ProtectionRange: 10 yardsComponents: V, SDuration: PermanentCasting Time: Two turns, plus one turn per additional effect desiredArea of Effect: One worshiper of MystraSaving Throw: NoneThis cooperative spell requires at least two Mystran priests casting the spellsimultaneously. For every additional Mystran clergy member (of any class)who participates in the ceremony, another restorative benefit can be em-powered. Other participating clergy must either cast magefire or donate fourspell levels of magical energy to the spell. Clergy who donate energy losefour spell levels of spells from memory as if they had been cast. Portions of aspell donated result in the loss of the whole spell as if it were cast.

With only two casters, this spell works as a neutralize poison, cure disease,and a remove curse. For each additional clergy participating, another benefitis added and the ceremony takes another turn to complete. Benefits alwaystake effect at the combined level of all the spell’s participants. The addi-tional benefits are, in order: cure blindness or deafness, heal, regenerate, anddispel magic. Additional participants past this point enable any effect to berepeated (if a dispel magic failed, for instance) or allow a special fell conditionto be healed or dispelled at the DM’s discretion.

6th LevelWondrous Recall (Alterat ion, Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: Charm, CreationRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: InstantaneousCasting Tune: 9Area of Effect: The casterSaving Throw: NoneThis spell enables the caster to bring back into memory two duplicates of thelast spell cast before the wondrous recall in order to enable that spell to becast again twice. A cast wondrous recall appears as two phantom spells thatCan be carried in addition to the normal spell load of the caster. Each ofthese “extra” spells can be unleashed by silent act of will with a casting tuneof 1 and no need for material components. Casting these spells does notallow the priest to exceed the normal casting limitations ofone spell beingenacted in a round. however. If the caster so desires, oneof the recalledspells can precisely duplicate in efficacy (hit points of damage done, area ofeffect, etc.) the original spell from which the recall copied its phantom spellsor—if this exact duplicate is the second recalled spell to be unleashed—itsrecalled twin.

A priest may only carry in mind one cast wondrous recall (that is, twophantom spells) and one uncast wondrous recall at a tune. Prayers for morethan one wondrous recall are never granted and attempts to cast a wondrousrecall while one is still in effect result in the caster being feebleminded (asthe 5th-level wizard spell of the same name). Wondrous recall cannot recall7th-level or greater spells.

7th LevelSpell Ward (Abjuration)Sphere:Range:

ProtectionTouch

Components: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One beingSav ing Throw: None

This powerful magic confers upon the caster or a single living touched spellrecipient complete personal immunity to one specific, named wizard spell ofeach level (for example, lightning bolt, not just any lightning spell), whichmust be determined during casting. In addition, a spell ward affords protec-tion against any one form of damage of both natural and magical origin (typ-ical forms are cold, electricity, fire, acid, rot, heat, life-energy dram, and poi-son. However, a spell ward cannot prevent the contraction of any disease.

Casters who use this spell on themselves can—at an immediate cost of1d6 points of damage tothemselves—transfer the protection of the ward toanother being through touch. (Unaware or unwilling recipients require asuccessful attack on AC 10 to touch.) Such a transfer does not affect the du-ration of the ward; only the remaining time of protection is gained. No sec-ond transfer can be made, and a being who is not the spell’s caster cannottransfer a spell ward to anyone. Spell ward does not work on automatons(such as golems) or undead creatures.

Oghma(The Binder of What is Known, the Lord of Knowledge,Patron of Bards, the Wise God)Greater Power of the Outlands, NPORTFOLIO: Knowledge, invention, inspiration, bardsALIASES: Curna (Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden)DOMAIN NAME: Outlands/House of Knowledge in Tir na OgSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES:FOES:SYMBOL:

WOR. ALIGN.:

Deneir, Milil, Gond, Lliira, Mystra, Azuth, LathanderTalos, Bane (now dead), Mask, CyricA simple, blank scrollA n y

Oghma (OGG-mah) is the most powerful god ofknowledge in Faerûn. Much as Mystra of old was saidto sit in judgment of each new spell, Oghma is saidto decide whether a new idea would be known to theworld or confined to its originator. Deneir and Mililboth act as intercessors for Oghma, carrying new in-formation both to him and to those whom Oghma

favors. He is on good relations with the artificer god, Gond Wonderbringer,who serves him by giving ideas manifest form, but their relationship hassometimes become tense due to Gond’s proclivity to press for the rapid in-troduction of new devices throughout Faerûn. In Durpar, Estagund, and Varthe Golden, Oghma is worshiped as part of the Adama, the Durparian con-cept of a world spirit that embraces and enfolds the divine essence that ispart of all beings. Here he is known as Curna, goddess of wisdom.

Oghma is a cheerful and wise power whose ability to persuade others to hispoint of view he puts to endless use. He can be solemn and righteous, but he ismore often quietly humorous and quick to smile. His one flaw may be his fond-ness for his own thoughts; he tends to implement rather convoluted plots thathe has worked out first in his own mind rather than to take direct action.

Oghma�s Avatar (Bard 40, Mage 23, Fighter 20)Oghma is rarely seen, but has been known to appear as a dark-skinned,handsome man in bright, grand, stylish clothing typically including a tabardwith projecting, ornamented shoulder plates, a cummerbund that bears apainted scene of exquisite beauty on its medallion-shaped buckle, and open-meshwork, point-toed boots whose uppers end in crystal teardrop, that dan-gle down almost to touch the upraised toes. This form usually carries a yart-ing (guitar) of white snowwood. Very rarely Oghma’s avatar has appeared asa gigantic, spell-hurling old man whose flying body is entirely cloaked in hislong, streaming hair and beard. He uses spells from any wizard school. Hisdivination and abjuration spells are cast at triple normal effectiveness in allrespects and their targets receive a -3 penalty to their saving throws if anyare allowed.

AC -5; MV 15 or MV Fl 24; HP 216; THAC0 1; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d8+12 (long sword +3, +7 STR, +2 spec. bonus in long sword)MR 70%; SZ L (10 feet) or H (20 feet)STR 19, DEX 20, CON 20, INT 25, WIS 22, CHA 24Spells W: 7/7/7/7/6/6/5/5/3Saves PPDM 3, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Oghma can charm everyone who can hear him who isnot divine, even it that person is normally proof against charm like powers.All beings in earshot must make a successful saving throw vs. spell everyround he speaks or be charmed. Oghma can also use ESP on all beings

within 180 yards of himself, though normal protective magics will work tothwart this. Though he prefers to wield spells, when he finds it necessary toattack physically, he uses a long sword +3 that magically appears in his handwhen he wishes, though it has no other apparent special abilities. Oghma ishimself immune to all charm -type or emotion-altering spells and abilitiesand to any spell, effect, or ability that would in any way damage his mentalfaculties (Intelligence or Wisdom) or sanity.

Oghma�s yarting is able to play any song, tone, or noise perfectly, andcan even sound like multiple instruments playing at once. Oghma canwring from it music to control its listener�s emotions, making them sohappy as to give up all hostile intent, sad enough to do nothing other thanweep in despair, or angry enough to attack any target with immense feroc-ity (as berserkers, with a +2 to their attack rolls). (A saving throw vs. spellat a -2 penalty applies for each effect.) It appears to have other magicalpowers, but sages disagree on them, and they might change from time totime. At times, Oghma has been said to loan his yarting to those of hisfaithful who are performing some special deed of importance to him. Itsabilities when so loaned may vary from those typical to it in Oghma�shands.

Other ManifestationsOghma most often manifests as a blue-green radiance accompanied by dis-tinctive crawling chords of rising, almost menacing music. These are alwaysthe same, and only Oghma dare use them. Others who try to imitate thechords are visited by an immediate warning manifestation; if they persist,this is accompanied by a blue ring of flame that encircles and burns themeither severely or fatally, depending on the anger of the god. The radianceis always accompanied by a strong sensation of being watched, and Oghmamay even speak in an elderly, echoing, cultured voice, using words sparinglyto say, for example: �Well said,� ��Tis well done,� �Desist from thy course, orperish,� or �What ye seek is to be found in . . . .�

Oghma has also been known to manifest as a blinding white light thatmay from time to time extrude two blazing eyes of fire, emit beams of col-ored force that bestow magical effects, or project hands that can point,carry, or wield items. He also uses various golems, translators (see Mediatorsin the PLANESCAPE MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Appendix), electrumdragons, feystags, watchers, and watchghosts to demonstrate his approval ordisapproval or to send aid to his faithful.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, monks, bards, wizardsCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LN, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, M: No, B: No, W: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, M: No, B: No, W: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and monks of Oghma receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Oghma is venerated by sages, wizards, and the knowledgeable. He is par-ticularly worshiped by bards, who also show their bended knees to Milil.Anyone seeking information, particularly lost or hidden information, sendsa few good words in Oghma�s direction and asks for his blessing.

All priests of Oghma are called loremasters. Other clergy include a smat-tering of bards and wizards. All races are freely admitted to the priesthood.The entire church hierarchy is devoted to the spirit of one man, the GrandPatriarch of Oghma, who until the Time of Troubles made his home in Pro-campur and was recognized as being the �voice of Oghma.� During theTime of Troubles the Grand Patriarch disappeared without a trace. Answersfrom Oghma have been conflicting and confusing as to what happened tohim. The Patriarch�s house in Procampur has become a shrine to Oghma.Until the Grand Patriarch�s fate is known, the church is running withoutan ultimate head, and it has split into several factions and subfactions.

The largest faction is the Orthodox Church of Oghma, which does notrecognize anyone using the title Patriarch since its hierarchy holds that thePatriarch who vanished during the Time of Troubles is still serving Oghma.Perhaps the Patriarch is on another plane of existence or has ascended to asemidivine state, but nevertheless, until Oghma says otherwise, he is theonly rightful Patriarch.

The second largest faction is the Church of Oghma in Sembia, which isdistinguished mainly in that it believes a new Patriarch has been ap-pointed and that all knowledge should be tested and proven to be worthyof dissemination before it is given out into general release. This faction isjoined in its stance on the church hierarchy, but not on theology, by thePursuers of Pure Knowledge in Mintar. (The Pursuers of Pure Knowledgehave met a great many setbacks recently due to Mintar being taken overby Teldorn Darkhope, Lord Knight Imperceptor of the Dark Lord, who

claims to serve Bane reborn and has killed all who oppose him openly. Thechurch opposes him, therefore, covertly.)

To date, there has been a tenuous cooperation between most regionalchurches, but a recent rift between the Church of Oghma in Sembia and theOrthodoxy in Cormyr has caused relations to be broken off totally betweenthe church in those nations. Loremasters of the one nation are not welcomein the others� temples and vice versa. The heart of this problem seems tohave been caused by assumptions behind the keynote remarks of one Sem-bian loremaster at a Sembian arts festival in which an extensive CormyreanOghmanyte contingent had come to participate.

Acolytes in the service of the Binder are called Seekers, and those ofsome accomplishments are Senior Seekers. When an acolyte demonstratesclear (good and useful) inspiration, solid service in Oghma�s cause, or trueloyalty to the god to the discernment of at least two priests of the Wise God,those two priests confirm the acolyte as a true priest of Oghma, bestowingupon him or her the title of loremaster. Those who rise in the service ofOghma may win various titles in different places and jurisdictions, but themost widely recognized hierarchy of ranks (in ascending order) is: Loremas-ter, Loremaster Amanuensis, Loremaster Venturer, Loremaster Bold, Lore-Scribe of the God, Wise Anticipator, Inspirator, Inspirator High, Atlar,Higher Atlar, Loremaster High, Loremaster Most High, Eye of Oghma, Di-vine Hand of Oghma. The Church of Oghma in Sembia and the Pursuers ofPure Knowledge in Mintar use the titles (in ascending order) of: Advocate,Accomplished Advocate, Loremaster of the Twelfth, Loremaster of theEleventh (and so on up to Loremaster of the Second), Loremaster First,Loremaster High, Learned One, and Patriarch. Clergy address each other as�brother� and �sister� regardless of rank, and a polite form of address for out-siders and lay worshipers to use when dealing with any priest of Oghma is�lady (or lord) loremaster.�

Dogma: Knowledge is most supreme, particularly in its raw form, theidea. An idea has no weight but can move mountains. It has no height but itcan dominate a nation. It has no mass but it can push aside empires. Knowl-edge is the greatest tool of humankind, outweighing anything made by mor-tal hands. Before anything can exist, the idea must exist.

Knowledge is power, and must be used with care�but to hide it awayfrom others is never a good thing. At least once within the passing of eachmoon, the clergy of Oghma should copy some information of import in writ-ten or inscribed form so that records multiply and knowledge is not lost.Oghmanyte clergy are to stifle no new ideas, no matter how false or crazedthey seem, but to let them be heard and considered freely. They must neverslay a singer, nor stand by while others do so. They are to listen to new bardswhen they meet them and sponsor bards when they can.

A typical Oghmanyte charge to novices is: �Spread knowledge wheneverit is prudent to do so. Keep no secrets for their own sake. Curb and denyfalsehood, rumor, and deceitful accounts and histories whenever you en-counter them. Write or copy some lore of value and give it away freely atleast once a year. Hide some writings away while distributing others widelyso that the written knowledge of Faerûn is larger when you leave life thanwhen you entered it. Sponsor, assist, and teach minstrels, bards, scribes, andrecordkeepers whenever you encounter them and perceive a need. Spreadtruth and knowledge throughout the Realms so that all folk may know more.Never deliver a message falsely or incompletely, but always just as you re-ceive it. Teach any folk who ask how to read and write or as much of thesecrafts as time and tasks permit�and charge no fee for this teaching.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Oghma have traditionally been of twosorts: those who remain within temples, monasteries, and abbeys, spendingtheir lives in analysis, reading gathered tomes, and copying out texts andspells as requested and those who go out into the world to find the writingsthat fill the abbey libraries. There have always been conflicts between theoverly fussy pedants among the cloistered and those who chafe under thepetty rules and infighting they encounter within abbey walls and prefer toface the real world as one of the wayfaring. Most abbeys of Oghma supportthemselves by selling maps, scribework, and spell scrolls. Wayfaring clergyare frequently sent armed with spell scrolls to trade and coin to purchaselearned works and scrolls with by abbeys.

Wayfaring priests who run out of abbey funds or who are independent ofany abbey make their own writings from observations of Faerûn and makemoney by teaching, selling maps, writing poems, letters, songs and lyrics forvarious patrons, and answering specific questions about Faerûn from their ac-cumulated store of knowledge. Their map copies are always of real maps. Amember of Oghma�s clergy may sell a map that she or he knows to err in somerespects but to be the best available, but can never knowingly sell a false mapor a copy of it. An Oghmanyte is expected to publish at least one book andcause it to be delivered to at least three temples of the Wise God. Such books

and the symbol of Chelsinara on both breasts. This symbol, named for animportant early priestess of the god, consists of two cupped hands, fingers

be of any sort and size and are displayed on any spot on the garment thatthe wearer desires. At any time a priest ascends a level, she or he usuallysees the symbol to be sewn in a dream vision. Kantlara are thus personaland individual garments,

Priests who lose or are separated from their kantlara are allowed to usepurple or crimson vests adorned with a simple scroll of Oghma on the back

Oghma used by all who worship

wear a harlequin�s mask.Adventuring Garb: In the field, Oghmanyte priests have a relaxed

dress code, wearing what they choose and usually choosing as much armoras possible. The Church of Oghma (in Sembia) retains the harlequin�smask, but only within the borders of Sembia.

Priests of the Wise God are encouraged to develop any musical skillsthey possess under the tutelage of senior clergy and bards of accomplish-ment, and they usually carry some sort of instrument on their persons aswell as some means of writing things down. Many loremasters carry items ofminor temple magic known as pens of Oghma. These are quill pens that donot break, glow at the writer�s will brightly enough to see to write or readby, and generate their own endless ink: a substance that does not blotch orfade and dries instantly.

REQUIREMENTS: Intelligence 12, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Intelligence, WisdomALIGNMENT: NWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: All armor types up to and including banded armor; no

shields

uppermost and thumbs touching. It means �I learn.� It is the badge ofhim, both laity and clergy, to denote their

membership among his faithful.A small boxlike hat is worn in ceremonies held on sacred ground; off of

ground holy to Oghma it is removed. In addition to their other ceremonialgarb, the priests of the breakaway Church of Oghma (in Sembia) always

Specialty Priests (Lorekeepers)

house of knowledge.and Shieldmeet are

may be some sort of small chapbook, such as a collection of song lyrics over-heard from observation of performing minstrels, or they may even be ro-mantic fiction, so long as such works realistically portray an existing societyor place in the Realms and so impart some true knowledge to the reader.

Priests of Curna are paid to give advice and draw up contracts, and theymay even work directly for rich merchants, giving advice and judging thereactions of opponents of their patron during tough negotiating sessions.They receive tribute for Curna before merchants make important businessdeals and before the inhabitants of Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Goldenembark on new ventures. The priests who work at the Library of Curna (seeMajor Centers of Worship, below) also manage and supply the teams or ex-plorers and sages who constantly update that vast store

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Midsummerthe most sacred days of the Oghmanyte calendar since they occasions whenagreements are made or renewed and many contracts, bonds, and the likeare drawn up. However, a priest of Oghma must observe two solemn ritualsevery day: the Binding and the Covenant. The Binding is a morning ser-vice wherein the symbols of Oghma are written in the dirt, in ashes upon astone altar, or in the mind if a clergy member happens to be shackled orotherwise unable to write, while a silent prayer of loyalty and praise is madeto Oghma. The Covenant is an evening service during which a passagefrom some work of wisdom is read aloud or recited from memory, a song orpoem is offered up to Oghma, and some item of knowledge that the clergymember has learned during that day is spoken aloud to the god and to anyfellow clergy present.

In monasteries, temples, and abbeys of the Wise God, the rest of the dayis typically occupied by readings aloud from great books of lore, philosophy,and history at gatherings held every two hours or so. It should be noted thatalmost all temples to Oghma have their own rituals that vary from onetemple to the next except the Cornerstones of the Day (the Binding andthe Covenant) and that many have two different sets of rituals: those forthe resident clergy and those for laity and visiting clergy.

Major Centers of Worship: Candlekeep is traditionally the greatestcenter of learning in Faerûn, and one of the most holy places of Oghma.The Leaves of Learning temple in Highmoon (Deepingdale) is the mostrecently prominent center of worship (thanks to the Index of Danali�seeVolo�s Guide to the Dalelands for more information), but several temples arevying for supremacy in Oghmanyte worship in Faerûn at present: theTower of Thought in Selgaunt, where Most High Learned Priest UrdiyvanEraen leads the Church of Oghma; the gilded Domes of Reason temple inProcampur, where High Loremaster Librarian Estember Orntalar seems tobe winning a vicious power struggle to succeed the Patriarch of Procampuras leader of the Orthodoxy; and the House of Many Tomes fortified abbeyin upland Impiltur west of Songhal, where Loremaster Most Exalted Pres-paerin Cadathlyn claims to have reached �a new closeness� to the Binderand has taken the title �Binder of Faerûn� as a mark of his oneness withthe god. The Font of Knowledge in Waterdeep is also notable as the mostrecently completed grand temple of Oghma. It was finished in Midsummerof the Year of the Banner (1368 DR) and is led by Loremaster Most HighSandrew the Wise, Savant of Oghma.

The Library of Curna in the Curna Mountains (also known as theMountains of Wisdom) in the Shining South holds the most prominentcenter of scholarship and worship of Oghma in the guise of Curna. Its con-tents are said to differ from Candlekeep�s in that they focus more on cur-rent events, business, and naturalistic studies that Candlekeep�s collec-tion, whose strength is by far in historical works.

Affiliated Orders: While the church of Oghma sponsors no military orknightly orders, it spreads its aegis over a countless number of monkish fel-lowships, scholarly orders of honor, guilds of naturalists and herbalists, andcolleges of bardic knowledge. Some of these include the Children of thePassive Voice, an order of learned monks whose members protect many li-braries and abbeys; the Order of the Gilt Laurel, an honorary society ofhistorical fiction authors; the Fellows of the Forest, a naturalist society;and the Companions of the Silver Strings, an order of heroic bards whoacted valiantly at risk of their own lives in the service of the church ofOghma. The Oghmanyte faith also has ties with Those Who Harp (theHarpers), an organization working for good and against the rise of greatpowers throughout Faerûn.

Priestly Vestments: All priests of Oghma have the same ceremonialdress�white shirt and trousers with a vest of black and gold brocade. Theshirt sleeves are wide, but tied at the wrists. The vests, known as kantlara,depict many glyphs, sigils, runes, and symbols of magical power, arcanemeaning, and significance in various realms of Faerûn down through theages. Such markings are sewn on by the wearer using gold braid. They may

MAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, combat, charm, divination, elemental,guardian, healing, protection, summoning, thought,travelers

MINOR SPHERES: Animal, creation, necromantic, sun, wardsMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Ancient history, local historyBONUS PROFS: Modern languages (pick one), reading/writing (Com-

mon), reading/writing (Thorass)• Lorekeepers may be of any race.• Lorekeepers can use weapons in combat but are most comfortable

wrestling, a type of combat at which their deity is excellent. If thePlayer�s Handbook rules for wrestling are used, lorekeepers suffer nopenalty for wearing armor and receive a +2 bonus to their attack rollswhen wrestling. Wrestling is covered in the Combat chapter under At-tacking without Killing in the Punching and Wrestling section. If themartial arts rules from The Complete Fighter�s Handbook or The Complete

one for martial arts and one for wrestling) and gain +2 to their attackslot to specialize in wrestling (rather than the two normally required.Priest�s Handbook are used, lorekeepers spend one weapon proficiency

roll as a specialist; all other aspects of specialization in wrestling workas in the section on Specializing in Wrestling. If the unarmed combatrules from PLAYER�S OPTION: Combat & Tactics are used, lorekeepers re-ceive a +2 bonus to their wrestling attack rolls and are otherwise expert

chapter.wrestlers as discussed in the Wrestling section of the Unarmed Combat

• At 3rd level, lorekeepers are able to identify (as the 1st-level wizardspell) an item once per day. To use this ability, a lorekeeper must be in atemple, shrine, or other area sanctified to Oghma or within the radius ofa protection from evil spell.

• At 5th level, lorekeepers are able to cast friends (as the 1st-level wizardspell) once per day.

• At 7th level, lorekeepers are able to mass charm (as the 8th-level wizardspell) twice per tenday.

• At 10th level, lorekeepers are able to cast legend lore (as the 6th-levelwizard spell) twice per tenday. To use this ability, a lorekeeper must bein a temple, shrine, or other area sanctified to Oghma.

• Lorekeepers are treated as having four additional experience levelswhen attempting to turn creatures that are native to the Outer Planes.They turn other creatures normally.

Specialty Priests of Curna (Wise Ones)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:MAJOR SPHERESS:

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:

REQ. PROFS:

BONUS PROFS:

Intelligence 13, Wisdom 13Intelligence, WisdomLNAll bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsAny nonmetallic armor or shieldsAll, charm, creation, divination, healing, protection,summoning, thought, travelersGuardian, necromantic, sun, weather, wardsSame as clerics, plus any used to enhance knowledge,such as crystal balls, wands of magic detection, etc.Local history (of one place not in Durpar, Estagund, orVar the Golden; pick one), modern languages (pick one)Local history (all of Durpar, Estagund or Var the Golden;pick two), modern languages (pick one),(Common), reading/writing (Thorass)

reading/writing

• Wise ones have a 3% chance per experience level to recognize any givenmagical item for what it is. This power does not bestow exact knowledge,but works much as a bard’s ability to identify the general purpose andfunction of any magical item.

• Wise ones cast divination sphere spells as if they were three levels higherin experience than their actual level.

• At 3rd level, wise ones can cast comprehend languages (as the 1st-levelwizard spell) once per day.

• At 5th level, wise ones can cast friends (as the 1st-level wizard spell) onceper day.

• At 7th-level, wise ones can cast zone of truth and hold person (as the 2nd-level priest spells) once a day.

• At 10th level, wise ones can generate a blinding flash once a day. Thisbeam of light erupts from a wise one’s holy symbol and affects a single tar-get, which must make a successful saving throw vs. spell or be blinded.This blindness lasts until it is magically dispelled or the wise one lifts itby silent act of will.

• At 12th-level, wise ones gain the permanent and constant benefits offree action (as the 4th-level priest spell).

Oghmanyte Spells2nd LevelImpart Knowledge (Divination)Sphere: ThoughtRange: TouchComponents: SDuration: InstantaneousCasting Time: 1Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneThis spell allows the caster to communicate complex thoughts (includingmagical symbols, diagrams, maps, explanatory images—which may move insequence to show a procedure—-and the like) silently to the mind of the re-cipient by touch. This spell is often used to show an individual the likenessesof other beings as an aid to recognizing them, to show a clear route or direc-tions to an unfamiliar place, or to quickly transfer lists of names, heraldic de-vices, or other symbols. The information is transferred instantaneously, leav-ing the recipient to mull its implications over later. This allows the spell tobe of use to dying priests who have little time left or in the frenzy of battlewhen only moments of contact are possible.

4th LevelDuplicate (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: CreationRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell causes a translucent, obviously magical quill pen to appear inmidair. This animated pen generates its own ink and copies any writing orinscription of the caster’s choice that is within range onto any writing sur-face, such as paper, vellum, smooth painted wall, or flat wood, availablewithin spell range. If there is a choice of writing surfaces available, the onechosen mentally by the caster is used.

Spells can be copied by means of this spell, creating a copy that is identi-cal to the original for purposes of study. Scroll\ can be duplicated by the spell

along with their magic. The quill’s writing does not trigger explosive runes,glyphs, or other traps, and creates an identically functioning magical dupli-cate of such dangerous magic (if any is present).

The writing of a duplicate is of identical size and spacing to the original,allowing perfect forgeries to occur. However, if the size of writing surface orthe spell duration does not permit the entire writing to be copied, the entirecopied writing fades away, and the spell is lost and ruined. (The pen writes asfast as the caster can.) Being rendered unconscious or commencing otherspellcasting ruins the magic. The caster must view the writing for the pen towork. (Brief glances away or interruptions do not harm the working of thespell.)

The mind of any caster can only encompass one duplicate spell at a timeand attempts to go beyond this limit result in feeblemindedness (as the suc-cessful effect of the 5th-level wizard spell feeblemind). Casting duplicatecauses the caster to instantly lose 1 hit point per experience level currentlypossessed. The loss of these hit points may only be reversed by the casting ofa wish or limited wish spell or the casting of a heal spell on the recipient by ahigh priest of Oghma in the sanctuary of an Oghmanyte temple. No savingthrow against the loss of the hit points is allowed. Death caused in this waydestroys all spellcasting ability, so a priest who died casting duplicate and wasraised could no longer function as a priest, but only a lay worshiper.

The material component of this spell is a feather.

7th LevelSpellbind (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Necromantic, ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One being and one bookSaving Throw: NoneThis spell enables a caster who is touching a book of any sort and a livingcreature to cause book and being to be bound together. Any damage done tothe book is suffered by the being by the same means. (For instance, if thebook is put into flames, the spell recipient is burned, no matter how distantfrom the book.) However, the linked being can vanish into the book when-ever desired.

Materialization and dematerialization both take 1 round. White withinthe book, the bound being can see, hear, and speak normally, but cannotmove things, including the book, nor feel or move its body, clothing, or anycarried items. A being spellbound in a book cannot be seen by those exam-ining it by nonmagical means. The spellbound being can read the surfacethoughts of anyone reading or flipping through the book (akin to the 2nd-level wizard spell ESP) if it concentrates on doing so.

A spellbound being can freely leave the book it is linked to at any timeunless other spells are cast upon the hook to restrict this. While within thetome it need not rest, sleep, eat, or drink. All body processes, including heal-ing, are suspended for the spellbound being while it is in the book.

A successful dispel magic cast by a spellcaster of at least 20th level destroysthe binding between book and being without damaging either. Utter de-struction of the book ends the spell and deals the being it was linked to 4d12points of damage. The death of a spellbound being in turn forces an itemsaving throw vs. acid on the book to avoid its crumbling to dust forever. Thisdisintegration takes three rounds and can be halted by a successful dispelmagic spell, wish, or limited wish cast within this time.

Selûne(Our Lady of SiIver, the Moonmaiden,the Night White Lady)Intermediate Power of Ysgard, CGPORTFOLIO: Moon, stars, navigation, navigators, wanderers, seekers,

good and neutral lycanthropesALIASES: Bright Nydra (Farsea Marshes), Elah (Anauroch, among

the Bedine), Lucha (Durpar, Estagund, and Var theGolden)

DOMAIN NAME: Ysgard/Gates of the MoonSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Mystra, Ll i i ra, Sune, Tymora, Ei l istraee, Sehanine

Moonbow, Shaundakul, Eldath, Chauntea, Valkur theMighty, Lathander

FOES: Shar, Umberlee, Mask, Moander (now dead)

LG, NG, CGWhen Selûne (Seh-LOON-eh) journeys to theRealms, she is said to appear in many forms and isdepicted in religious art as everything from a femaleface on a lunar disk to a dusky-skinned woman withwide, radiant eyes and long ivory-colored hair to amatronly, middle-aged woman whose dark hair isstreaked with gray. In Durpar, Estagund, and Var theGolden, Selûne is worshiped as part of the Adama,

WOR. ALIGN.:

SYMBOL: Two darkly beautiful human female eyes surrounded by acircle of seven silver stars

the Durparian concept of a world spirit that embraces and enfolds the di-vine essence that is part of all beings. Here she is known as Lucha, SheWho Guides. Lucha oversees connections and relationships, guiding herds-men to good pastures, blessing marriages, helping lost ships at sea, and en-suring safe births. It can be safely said that as the moon changes, so does thenature of the moon goddess.

Selûne’s eternal foe is the evil goddess Shar, and she battles her cease-lessly on many planes of existence, both through mortal worshipers andservitor creatures. The undying enmity between the two goddesses predatesthe existence of most, if not all, of the present-day existing Faerûniandeities. The enmity between Shar and Selûne carries into their priesthoods,such that open battle often occurs when followers of each faith meet.Selûne also struggles with Umberlee constantly over the fate of ships at seaand with Mask over the works of mischief and evil he performs in the shad-ows the moon’s soft glow creates.

Selûne is a caring but quietly mystical power who often seems saddenedby events perhaps millennia old. While she is normally calm and placid,her war with Shar is fierce, with neither side giving or receiving quarter.She is seen in many ways by her followers, who are a diverse group, and sheis at times effervescently joyful and active, at others maternal, quiet, and al-most poetic, and at yet others warlike and fierce, showing little mercy toher foes.

Before the Time of Troubles, Selûne had served Sune for some centuriesafter being independent for millennia. After the Godswar, she went herown way again. Her relationship with Sune and Lliira is still extremelyfriendly and cooperative.

Selûne is served by the Shards, a group of shining female servitors. TheShards can grow wings or banish them as they desire and have long, flowingblue hair and pearly-white skin. They are in reality planetars.

Selûne�s Avatar(Mage 30, Cleric 22, Mystic 20, Fighter 16, Bard 12)Selûne has a calm, placid nature, hut the specifics of her personal formchange with the moon. Sometimes she appears as a dusky-hued, long-limbed woman with wide, radiant lime-green eyes and knee-length tressesof ivory-white hair, and sometimes she is a ghostly, lithe form with dark hairand eyes but robes of white that trail moon motes (see Other Manifesta-tions, below). At other tunes she appears as a fair but matronly woman ofmiddling years, who dwells among mortals from tune to time, most recentlyas an innkeeper in Waterdeep. In time with the moon, Selûne is continu-ally either growing to full glory or aging and dying, but this change is onlyin outward appearance and does not involve any diminishment of powers—at least, as far as dealings with mortals are concerned. Whatever her form,she constantly glows with a faint blue-white moonlight whenever her sur-roundings are dark. She has access to all schools and spheres of spells, ex-cept the plant sphere, but cannot cast spells that create darkness as theirprimary function. She rarely casts the reversed, damaging forms of necro-mantic sphere spells or healing spells, and then only in pressing circum-stances. She has access to all quest priest spells also.

AC -4; MV 18; HP 184; THAC0 0; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d12+16 or 1d12+5 (moonblade +3 or Wand of Four Moons, +7 STR, +2 spec.bonus in either weapon)MR 80%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 19, DEX 22, CON 19, INT 23, WIS 24, CHA 21Spells P: 13/12/12/12/12/8/3, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Selûne prefers not to fight unless she must, and whenshe must, she is an awe-inspiring figure of martial fury and coordinated dis-plays of magical prowess. Selûne uses a moonblade +3 (similar to the moon-blade spell below) or the Wand of Four Moons in battle and strikes as if shewere specialized in the use of both. The Wand of Four Moons strikes for1d12+3 points of damage and gives its wielder specialization in its use. It

has other abilities, including the combined capabilities of a wand of para-lyzation, a wand of polymorphing, a wand of lightning, a rod of security, and arod of resurrection (either one use of any of the abilities of these wands orrods or normal attacks in a round are possible for Selûne), but all of its abil-ities are unknown. Her scale mail, which she wears only in battle, hasopalescent, perfectly round scales that glow with a dim silver light. WhileSelûne’s Armor Class does not appear to be affectedby her scale mail’s pres-ence or absence, she sometimes loans this scale mail +5 to beings on a questor performing a service for her. When used in such a way, it works as if ithad the special abilities of armor of blending and plate mail of etherealness andthe weight and encumbrance benefits of elven chain mail.

All Selûne’s spell effects begin as streaking moonbeams, altering to theirtrue spell effects only when they near their intended target or area of effect.Her holy word spells automatically banish evil extraplanar creatures of lessthan divine power to their home planes, and within 100 yards of her, nosummoned creature of good may be dispelled orinvoluntarily returned toits home plane.

Selûne radiates protection from evil in any radius up to 100 yards at will.Light- and electricity-based attacks cannot harm Selûne, and neither canshe be affected by illusions, charm-type magic, charm sphere spells, and en-chantment/charm spells. No lycanthrope may lift a hand against her. Shemay cast any divination school or sphere spell as an ability; such spells donot count as part of her spell allotment, and she may cast one divination around in addition to any other spells she can cast or actions she can take ina round. All beings make saving throws at a -3 penalty against her divina-tions when saving throws are allowed. Selûne may not be detected by orconsulted by divination magics unless she wishes to be. (She always answersher own clergy.)

Other ManifestationsSelûne often manifests as trails of dancing light motes known as “moondust”or “moon motes” that resemble will-o’-wisps. These guide folk who are lostat night or who must travel over treacherous ground; they also appear inorder for her faithful to provide the light necessary to perform a delicatetask. These moon motes may exude sparkling, glowing drops of pearly liq-uid—“drops fallen from the moon”—which Selûnite clergy gather and prizehighly, using as an ingredient of power in many helpful potions and healingointments. She also sends owls, weredragons, certain lycanthropes andshapechanging creatures, and the Shards to aid mortals or to show her favoror presence.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, mysticsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: No, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD C: No, SP: No. Cru: No, Mys: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, and mystics of Selûne receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Selûne is worshiped by a mixed bag of followers: navigators, sailors,women, female spellcasters (especially those born under a full moon or In-terested in divination), good- and neutral-aligned lycanthropes, those whowork honestly at night, those seeking protection from Shar, the lost, thequesting, and those curious about the future. Couples look to Selûne tobless them with children when they are ready, and women look to her forcourage, strength, and guidance. The demands she places on her followersare few, and the goddess is reputed to be free with her gifts and boons tomortals.

Selûne’s priesthood is as diverse as her worshipers, with hers being truly afaith that promotes equal access and understanding. Reflecting the chaoticand scattered nature of the church of Selûne, its hierarchy is a hodgepodgeof clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, mystics, informed or blessed by indi-viduals, and a smattering of good-aligned lycanthropes (both natural and in-fected). All cooperate in relative—if rollicking—peace under the symbol ofOur Lady of Silver. Members of this diverse group all worship the goddess intheir own styles. Her churches vary as do the phases of the moon, from opu-lent temples in Waterdeep to simple shrines in the Dalelands, from her-mitages and hilltop dancing circles to ornate mansion temples.

A great deal of moon-related activity occurs in and around Waterdeep,and most of this is attributed to the temple to Our Lady of Silver. MostSelûnites, however, tend toward smaller shrines and individual worship,since “Anywhere the full moon shines is the place for Selûne.” Selûnitesrefer to night conditions as being either “moonlight” (the moon is present,though perhaps not immediately visible) or “nightgloom” (the moon is notout or is dark).

Selûnite priests use a wide variety of titles, but novices (not yet fullpriests) are always known as the Called, and human females tend to domi-nate the ranks of the more powerful clergy. Typical Selûnite titles (in ascend-ing order) include: Touched, Enstarred, Moonbathed, Silverbrow, Lunar, Ini-tiate, and High Initiate. All of these titles are followed by �Priestess/Priest.�Those titles that follow these in rank tend to begin with �Priestess, /Priest ofthe� and end in some form traditional to the individual temple or shrine thepriest is affiliated with. It must be stressed that outside of Waterdeep andother larger city temples, many departures from these forms of titles will befound. The elite specialty priests of the goddess are known as silverstars.

Selûne as Lucha is worshiped by nearly everyone in Durpar. Her wor-shipers believe that she will guide them to the most profitable customers. It iswidely believed that Lucha herself watches over all marriages performed byher clergy, and nearly all marriages in Durpar are performed by priests ofLucha. Her priests work ceaselessly against those of Mask and other evil gods.

Dogma: Selûne�s ethos seems to be one of acceptance and tolerance overany other overriding principle. All are to be made welcome in her faith andseen as equal, and fellow Selûnites should be aided freely, as if they wereone�s dearest friends. �May Selûne guide your steps in the night, and bringthem to the new dawn� is the common blessing of priests of Selûne to thefaithful.

Novices are charged with the words of the goddess: �Let all on whom mylight falls be welcome if they desire to be so. As the silver moon waxes andwanes, so too does all life. Trust in my radiance, and know that all love aliveunder my light shall know my blessing. Turn to the moon, and I will be yourtrue guide.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Selûne spend their time wanderingFaerûn reaching out to the faithful and to potential worshipers of the moongoddess, since Selûne can be worshiped anywhere on the surface world.They make much small coin by telling fortunes, because folk who try to readthe stars never achieve the same success rate in predictions as do clergy

for guidance.

thereby win respect among farmers and other members of the common folk.

members who can call on Selûne for real guidance. In this way, Selûnesteadily gains worshipers from the ranks of those who look to the night sky

Members of the Selûnite priesthood also face lycanthropes fearlessly and

controlled.� Fly (as the wizard spell) for as long and as often as desired one night per

moon.� Identify objects by touch seven times per moon.� 30-foot infravision.� Locate object at will with no time or space limit within Faerûn once per

moon.� Remove curse by touch once per moon.

as long as desired, but only when in moon-light. The ability ends abruptly in darkness or in nightgloom.

� Immunity to all powers of and damage from elven moonblades.� Complete control over lycanthropic transformations for seven moons for

lycanthropes of any type.

� Telekinesis once per night for

The moonfire flows down from the altar to touch or envelop beings anditems. Its touch destroys undead, enchants objects to make them magicalitems for the use of Selûnite clergy, and confers special powers on creatures.Moonfire vanishes when Selûne wills and bestows power as she wills. Thosewho steal it gain nothing, and there is no known means of forcing it to yieldup a specific power.

Typical magical items Selûne creates with her moonfire include bracers ofdefense, mooncloaks, moon motes, potions of moon-healing, rings of shooting stars,and various magical shields. Moonfire-created bracers of defense, in additionto working as other such bracers, allow their wearer to dimension door once anight from one moonlit place to another. A mooncloak is a silvery-gray cloakthat combines the powers of a cloak of protection +1 with water walking andlevitate at will. A moon mote is a round, smooth stone that can become danc-ing lights upon command under the directional control of whoever is holdingthe mote; range and duration for the effect are as if dancing lights were cast bya 22nd-level wizard. Potions of moon-healing restore 4d8+4 points of damageto injured mortals and can be split into four doses that cure 1d8 points ofdamage each. To natural or infected lycanthropes, potions of moon-healing re-store 8d8+8 points of damage or yield four doses that cure 2d8 points of dam-age each.

Moonfire can also bestow magical powers upon mortal worshipers ofSelûne under special circumstances. They work, when applicable, as if theirusers were 22nd-level mages. Typical special powers include:

� Dispel magic at will once per moon (month).� Feather fall in moonlight at will or when unconscious and descending un-

They are also, by the Lady�s command, generous with their healing, oftencharging very little beyond a meal and a warm place to sleep for straightfor-ward healing. Selûne�s way thus makes the goddess ever more popular andkeeps her clergy hardy, well-traveled, and in practical touch with the naturalworld.

The Moonmaiden�s clergy are encouraged to be self-reliant, humble, andyet make as much of a success as they can in the world while always remain-ing as helpful and friendly to the lonely and to decent folk as possible. Bythis long-sighted policy Selûne allows her clergy to become happy, fulfilled,important people, and sees her faith steadily gain power thereby. Our Ladyof Silver is inclined to be lenient in matters of alignment and religious ob-servance. Self-reliance and finding one�s own, practical path are more im-portant than fussy detail in her faith, and so Selûne is also gaining favoramong eccentrics, adventurers, and mavericks of all sorts, including out-casts. Many sages expect Selûne to rise again to great might among the pow-ers, perhaps within their lifetimes.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Selûnite clergy embroider theirrituals into quite individual, unique observances. The basics of these areopen-air dances and prayers under the moonlight with offerings of milk andwine poured upon a central altar during the nights of every full moon andnew moon. These rituals are often called night stalks and during them herpriests reaffirm their closeness to the Night White Lady and commune withher when possible.

The most sacred rituals of Selûne are the Conjuring of the Second Moonand the Mystery of the Night. The Conjuring of the Second Moon is per-formed only during Shieldmeet. It summons the Shards to do the bidding ofthe mortal clergy, often to do battle with minions of Shar. The Shards alwaystake one mortal priestess to be one of them before they depart.

The Mystery of the Night must be performed at least once a year by everypriest. During the Mystery ritual, Selûnite priests cast certain secret spellsand lie before the Moonmaiden�s altar, from whence they fly upward and spi-ral around the moon in a trance while they speak personally with Selûne viamental visions. This ritual causes a mortal 1d12 points of damage as it is sodraining, but this damage heals normally through rest or the use of healingmagic.

When the goddess is pleased, she causes moonlight to bathe the wine ormilk poured out on her altar, which transforms it into moonfire: an opales-cent, glowing, soft-as-silk, ambulatory fluid mass the consistency of custard.

Major Centers of Worship: The greatest and most beautiful temple toSelûne is the House of the Moon in Waterdeep, where Priestess of the HighMoonlight (or to the uninitiated, simply �High Priestess�) Naneatha Suarilholds court in a gilt-domed temple whose ornate new gates depict Selûnetriumphantly hurling Shar down into the spires of Waterdeep as the faith-ful say she did during the Time of Troubles. Here dozens of silver-robedpriestesses harp out tunes to the moon or sell healing drafts, potions thatkeep one alert for an entire night and yet bestow the benefits of a solidsleep, and other potions that give their imbibers infravision from one dusk todawn.

Here, too, the devout make pilgrimages to see the holy replica of theWand of the Four Moons in its glass case (guarded by specialty priest ofSelûne). Selûne usually manifests in the temple from out of this wand. Itwas created and blessed by Selûne herself in memory of the battle with Sharshe had in Waterdeep. This holy duplicate is identical in form to the wandthat Selûne wields in battle. It levitates in its glass case and glows with asoft, silvery-blue light, though it has no other known magical powers. Someswear that Naneatha can, by special request to the Moonmaiden, switchthis duplicate with the real Wand of Four Moons and wield it in all its gloryfor short periods, but no witnesses to such an event have ever come for-ward. A fortunate few pilgrims have witnessed drops of Selûne�s holyessence�the ingredient used in the making of her potions�falling fromthe hovering wand or heard her whisper words of advice or encouragementin their heads as they gazed upon it. On Selûne�s Hallowing, a yearly Wa-terdhavian temple holiday, Naneatha carries it before her at the head of aparade of worshipers that leave the House of the Moon at moonrise andmove down to the harbor.

She Who Guides is favored in Lastarr, an independent city once part ofEstagund which is her most prominent center of worship.

One lost center of Selûnite worship is Myth Lharast in the heart ofAmn, one of the legendary cities surrounded by a mythal. Founded as a cityof Selûnites ages ago, its mythal is linked to the moon, and it appears onlyon certain moonlit nights as a ghostly, floating splendor of walls and towersonly to disappear again. An assortment of evil beings and groups, from un-

dead armies ruled by demiliches to gargoyle clans, have seized control of itover the years and used it to raid the surrounding land. This has given it afell reputation. The faithful of Selûne yet hope to restore it to her care.

Affiliated Orders: One order of fanatic Selûnites is known as theSwords of the Lady, who are often referred to colloquially as the Lunatics.Its members are led by a few Selûnite crusaders, specialty priests, and mys-tics. They tend to act rapidly in response to threats from Shar and herpriesthood, although their behavior is often viewed as bizarre by the publicat large. Among other groups, the church of Selûne is also affiliated withthe Harpers and a group of female diviners who worship the Night WhiteLady who call themselves the Oracles of the Moon.

Priestly Vestments: The ceremonial costume of Selûnites varies fromplace to place. Selûnite clergy members wear everything from plain brownrobes to only a little moonstone jewelry as an accent to normal clothing torich bejeweled gowns of the finest make and haughtiest fashion with en-chanted, animate trains and capes and accompanying moonstone crowns.The finest can be found at the House of the Moon in Waterdeep, where thehigh priestess Naneatha Suaril presides over rituals in a wide-bottomedhooped skirt with a large fanlike collar rising at the back of its neck. Bothskirt and collar are stiffened with whalebone and set with clusters of pearlsand other gemstones

The ceremonial dress of priests of Lucha consists of a circlet woven ofvines or flowers and white robes. No shoes are worn at ceremonies. Theonly other symbol of office is a staff wound about with vines and flowers.

Adventuring Garb: In the field, the clergy members of the Selûnitechurch dress practically for the task they are undertaking. The tend to dressfashionably, but not gaudily, in day-to-day life. The preferred weapon of theclergy of Selûne is a smooth-headed mace called the moon’s hand. Themoon’s hand has identical statistics to a standard footman’s mace, though itgains special combat bonuses in the hands of a specialty priest of Selûne.

Specialty Priests (Silverstars)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:MAJOR SPHERESS:

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

Constitution 12, Wisdom 14Constitution, WisdomCGAll bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsAnyAll, animal, astral, combat, divination, guardian, heal-ing, necromdntic, numbers, summoning, sun, travelers,weatherCharm, elemental, plant, wardsSame as clericsNoneNavigation, astrology

• Beings of drill race may he silverstars.• Silverstars are gifted with infravision (30-foot range).• In the hands of a silverstar, a moon’s hand (mentioned above under ad-

venturing garb) strikes with a +l to its attack and damage rolls andcounts as a +1 magical weapon for the purpose of striking creatures onlyable to be hit by magical weapons.

• Silverstars may create starshine (as the 3rd-level priest spell) once perday.For each five additional levels, a silverstar gains the ability to createstarshine again that day.

• At 3rd level, silverstars may create a moonbeam (as the 5th-level priestspell) or lower water or raise water (as the 4th-level priest spell or its re-verse) once a day.

• At 5th level, silverstars may create a moonblade (as the 3rd-level priestspell) once a day.

• At 10th level, silverstars may create a moon path (as the 5th-level priestspell) or gain true seeing (as the 5th-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 15th level, silverstars can shoot up to three shooting stars from oneof their hands or their eyes per tenday, either simultaneously or one at atune. These glowing missiles with fiery tails each impact for 12 points ofdamage and burst in a 10-foot-diameter sphere for 24 points of damage.Any creatures struck take full damage from impact plus full damagefrom the shootmg star burst. Creatures within the hunt radius must rolla saving throw vs. spell to take only one-half damage. Range is 70 feet,at the end of which the burst will occur unless an object or creature isstruck before that.

The shooting stars follow a straight path. A creature in the pathmust roll a saving throw vs. spell or be hit by the missile. Saving throwssuffer a -3 penalty within 20 feet of the silverstar who is shooting, -1from 21 feet to 40 feet, and receive no adjustment beyond 40 feet.

Selûnite Spells3 r d L e v e l

l Silverstars are not immune to lycanthropy; however, if infected bychaotic good lycanthropes (or if they change alignment to match theinfecting lycanthrope, with all attendant experience penalties), thensilverstars can control their Iycanthroplc transformations at will, as anatural (rather than infected) lycanthrope. A silverstar cannotchange alignment to evil and remain a silverstar, though any otheralignment change is allowed in these circumstances only. Silverstar ly-canthropes, through a boon from Selûne, are not specially vulnerableto silver weapons.

Specialty Priests of Lucha (Guides)

ARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, charm, divination, healing, necromantic,

REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 15PRIME REQ.: WisdomA L I G N M E N T : L GWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons, nets, lassos,

and anything that allows capture without harming thevictim

protection, plant, sun, travelersMINOR SPHERES: Charm, elemental, guardian, wardsMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Direction senseBONUS PROFS: Navigation• The first weapon a guide learns must always be the quarterstaff.• Guides receive a +3 bonus to direction sense proficiency checks.• Guides are immune to maze, the direction-confusing effects of the

guards and wards spell, and similar spells and spell-like effects thatcause them to lose the way or become confused about what directionthey are moving.

• Guides are able to cast protection from evil (as the 1st-level priest spell)once per day. For each three additional levels, a guide gains the abilityto cast protection from evil again that day.

• At 3rd level, guides have the ability to locate object (as the 1st-levelpriest spell) once per day.

• At 5th level, guides have the ability to locate creature (as the 4th-levelwizard spell) or create a moonblade (as the 3rd-level priest spell) onceper day.

• At 7th level, guides may create a moon path (as the 5th-level prlebtspell) or gain true seeing (as the 5th-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 10th level, guides are able to find the path (as the 6h-level priestspell) once a day. As a first priority, a guide is to use this ability to findsomething that has been lost.

Moon Blade (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Combat, SunRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCastmg Time: 6Area of Effect: One swordlike magical constructSaving Throw: NoneThis spell brings into being a silent, weightless swordlike construct madeof moonlight that extends 4 feet straight out from the caster’s hand. Itcannot be dropped, transferred to the grasp of another being, or broken.To strike, it must be wielded as a weapon. The caster’s normal THAC0applies, but a moon blade is considered a +4 magical weapon for the pur-pose of what kinds of beings it is able to hit. Its strike drains vitality or lifeforce, causing no visible wounds, but inflicting 1d12+4 points of damage.Undead are visibly wounded by, a moon blade their substance boils awayfrom its touch, and they suffer 2d12+4 points of damage per blow.

A successful moon blade strike temporarily scrambles magic. On theround after being hit, victims cannot cast spells or call on any spell-likeabilities. The functioning of existing spell conditions is suspended forthat round, and magical items wielded by, the victim do not function forthat round.

A moon blade vanishes if its caster is slain or casts any other spell ex-cept those that have only verbal components.

This spell as no connection with the enchanted items known as moon-blades borne and made by some elves.

4th LevelWall of Moonlight (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Protection, SunRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7

A 6-inch-thick vertical plane with a surface area of 5square feet/level per sideNone

Area of Effect:

Saving Throw:This magic creates a shimmering tapestry of swirling, pearl-white force. Awall of moonlight is intangible, need not be anchored to anything, and canreadily he passed through. It can be made smaller than the caster’s limits ifsurroundings confine it or the caster wishes to leave an opening beside it,but it cannot be dismissed prematurely. The false moonlight of the wall isbright enough to read by and to clearly illuminate its surroundings within20 feet in all directions. Beings employing infravision cannot see clearlythrough it, though they may, if the situation allows, be able to shield theireyes and see past it.

A wall of moonlight has the following effects on creatures and items com-ing into contact with it or passing through it: Undead creatures take 4d12points of damage. Creatures of evil alignment plusany being who is carryinga holy symbol consecrated to the goddesses Sharor Umberlee suffer 2d10points of damage. Magical items glow with a sudden red faerie fire for 1d4+1rounds; this cannot be banished before its duration ends, even if the wieldercan normally control the radiance of the item. Magical potions must make asuccessful item saving throw vs. magical fire or explode, inflicting 3d4 pointsof damage upon beings within 10 feet or 1d4+8 points of damage to anybeing carrying them if they are carried in a glass, crystal, or ceramic flask. (Ifthey are carried in some other manner and fail their saving throw, theDungeon Master must adjudicate the appropriate proportionate effects.) Fi-nally, magical darkness of any sort is banished and cannot be evoked or con-tinue to exist within 40 feet of any part of a wall of moonlight.

If a creature passes through the wall more than once, or pauses in itsmidst formore thanone round, the being suffers this damagetact with the wall or round of continuous contact with it.

for each con-

(Mistress of the Night, the Lady of Loss, Nightsinger)5th LevelMoon Path (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Sun, TravelersRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: A variable-width, glowing white stair or bridge of

translucent force a maximum of 15 feet/level longSaving Throw: NoneThis spell enables its caster to create a stair or bridge from one known, vi-sualized spot to another. The effect is a railless ribbon of glowing whitetranslucent force like a glass strip that is from 3 to20 feet wide as the casterdecides (and able to vary in width over its length if the caster desires). It isa maximum of 15 feet per level of the caster long, though the caster maymake it shorter if space is constricted. It can climb or descend and sticks toits endpoints unshakably, even if these endpoints are actually empty airabove known ground features.

Beings walking on a moon path are protected as follows: They cannot bedrained of abilities or experience levels (life force), they cannot be harmedby normal missiles, they are immune to all enchantment/charm spells (al-though they can sense enough of a spell effect to identify it for what itdoes), and they cannot fall over or off the moon path, no matter what forcestrikes it or them.

A moon path needs no supports, cannot be shattered or moved by anyknown force, and is stable enough to cast spells from. It vanishes if struck bya successful dispel magic, if the caster wills it to, or if it has been completelytraversed by as many beings as the caster has experience levels. Otherwise,it persists for 1 turn/level of the caster. Beings on a moon path that expires orvanishes are subject to normal falling damage when they strike whateverhard surface is below. A magical barrier of the 6th or greater spell levelstops a forming moon path or truncates an existing one where the two meet,hut the caster cannot choose to banish only a part of his or her moon path ina similar manner. Loss of one part of a moon path has no effect on remainingparts, even if the loss cuts the path in two.

The material component of this spell is a handful of powdered moonstone.

Moonweb (Abjuration, Alteration)Sphere: Guardian, SunRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 2 turns/levelCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: One touched creature or opening with a surface area of

up to 1 square foot per level.Saving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a web of glowing, shimmering strands of silvery light. Itaffects one touched creature or opening (for example, a doorway or win-dow) with a surface area of up to 1 square foot per level. This moonweb can-not be seen through except by priests of Selûne, the goddess herself, andthe beings in its protected area, but it does not foil magical means of de-tecting or locating beings and objects.

Any being, weapon, or spell striking a moonweb is forced, violently andimmediately, back to its source. This includes beings trying to circumventsuch a barrier by means of dimension door or teleportation magics (which aredrained and ruined by the moonweb). Weapon attacks directed at orthrough a moonweb rebound for full damage on their wielders.

Before rebounding, magical weapons do a moonweb 1 point of damagefor each point of attack bonus (each “plus”) possessed. A moonweb can bedestroyed by inflicting 1 point of such magical melee damage per level of itscaster upon it or by the application of a successful dispel magic.

Moonwebs repel globes of invulnerability and other magical barriers, butany contact between a moonweb and an anti-magic shell or any prismaticmagic instantly destroys both spell effects in a spectacular burst of harmlessblue sparks and crawling purple lightning bolts.

If the caster of a moonweb is on the same plane of existence as the moon-web whenever any being or object destroys it or tries to pass it, the castergains a clear, vivid mental image of the offending object or being.

The material components of this spell are a piece of gray or silver hairfrom any source and a drop of holy water.

Shar

Greater Power of the Gray Waste, NEPORTFOLIO: Dark, night, loss, forgetfulness, unrevealed secrets, cav-

erns, dungeons, the UnderdarkALIASES: Ibrandul (Calimshan, the Shining South, Waterdeep/

Undermountain)DOMAIN NAME: Niflheim/Palace of LossSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Myrkul (non dead), TalonaFOES: Selûne, Lathander, lbrandul (now dead), Amaunator

(now dead), ShaundakulSYMBOL: A black disk with a border of deep purpleWOR. ALIGN.: Any, but mainly evil

Loss is the nature of Shar (SHAHR). One of the DarkGods, she is a deeply twisted and perverse being of In-effable evil and endless petty hatred and jealousy. Sherules over pains hidden but not forgotten, bitternesscarefully nurtured away from the l ight and fromothers, and quiet revenge for any slight, no matterhow old. She is said to have the power to make herdevout followers forget their pain, yet what occurs is

that they become inured to the loss, treating it as a common and naturalstate of being. The basic inanity of life and foolishness of hope are the cor-nerstones of Shar’s being. She revels in the concealed, in that which is hid-den, never to be revealed. She can always clearly perceive every being, ob-ject, and act performed within darkness.

In temples, representations of the goddess are either a black sphere out-lined in racing, magically animated flames of purple or paintings of a beau-tiful human with long, raven-black hair dressed in swirling dark garb. Shesmiles coldly and her large eyes have black pupils and are otherwise solidpurple.

Shar is the mortal enemy of Selûne and battles her ceaselessly on manyplanes through mortal worshipers and servitor creatures. The undying en-mity between the two goddesses is older than recorded time.

During the Time of Troubles, Shar killed lbrandul, a lesser power of cav-erns, dungeons, and the Underdark worshiped in Calimshan, the ShiningSouth, and even Waterdeep, for daring to subvert those who venerate the

dark away from her. She appropriated his portfolio. She continues to grantthe clergy of Ibrandul spells in Ibrandul�s name. She is quietly delightedthat she is able to use this puppet church to subvert the worship of Selûnewithout drawing attention to her most faithful worshipers.

Shar's Avatar (Cleric 35, Mystic 30, Thief 25, Mage 20)

Shar favors two forms, the Nightsinger and the Dark Dancer. TheNightsinger is a 12-foot-tall presence whose female form is masked in feath-ers of all sorts that trail away into an increasingly intangible cowled cloakof gigantic proportions that merges into any shadows and darkness present.She sings continually, even when simply speaking, and her song is haunt-ingly beautiful and tragic. The Dark Dancer is a 7-foot-tall, lithe, exquis-itely beautiful human woman who dances gracefully and alluringly, her jet-black body sparkling with stars and her dark eyes two hypnotic orbs thatcan emit both harmful and beneficial gaze effects. Both forms have accessto all spell schools and spheres, but cannot cast spells that create light astheir primary function (not just fire or heat).

AC -5; MV 18; HP 178; THAC0 -2; #AT 1Dmg 1d10+7 (+7 STR)MR 80%; SZ L (7 feet) or H (12 feet)STR 19; DEX 24, CON 20, INT 21, WIS 21, CHA 24Spells P: 14/14/13/12/11/10/9, W: 5/5/5/5/5/4/3/3/2Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4 BW 8, Sp 5

Special Att/Def: The Nightsinger can create darkness and continualdarkness at will. As her physical attack, she can either strike with her handor attack with her song once per round. This song can either force the lossof an experience level (unless a saving throw vs. spell is successful), cause3d8 points of unearthly chilling damage, inflict feeblemindedness (unless asaving throw vs. spell is successful), or cause death (unless a saving throwvs. death magic is successful) in all who hear it.

All charm -type magic, charm sphere spells, and enchantment/charmspells cast or used by the Dark Cancer are at triple strength in all respectsand targeted creatures receive a -3 penalty to their saving throws againstsuch spells. Beings kissed by the Dancer are forced into a choice betweenbecoming her loyal servant or dying instantly (unless a saving throw vs.death magic is successful). The loyalty enforced by those who elect not torisk death is a charm like effect that converts those kissed to Shar's aims andviews. It wears off only if dispelled by the use of a wish or limited wish and isso powerful that beings so affected would happily die for Shar.

Other ManifestationsShar frequently manifests as amorphous tendrils of darkness where thereshould be none. These tendrils swirl and writhe constantly and are sur-rounded by a purple aura. Such darkness sometimes has a single steadilygazing purple eye at its heart, but even if this orb is absent, beings withinthe darkness always feel the ceaseless regard of a fell awareness. These ten-drils of darkness can touch the faithful and transmit messages from Shar di-rectly to their minds, indicate items of importance or direction, or grantnumbness and the ability to ignore pain. The tendrils do not heal, justallow the faithful to continue on until they drop dead of fatigue or accumu-lated injury (at -10 hit points). Shar also works through darktentacles,doom tyrants (undead beholders), and mysterious shadow monsters, usingthem as messengers, guards, and enforcers of her will.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, mysticsCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Cru: No, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: No, Mys: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, and mystics of Shar receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Shar may seeas well in natural or magical darkness as in light; however, this does not givethem the heat-sensing abilities of infravision.

Shar is worshiped by blinded, nocturnal, or subterranean-dwelling hu-mans and allied beings and by those who hate the light, such as goblinkinand their allies. She is also worshiped by many who favor dark surroundingsor who must undertake deeds or do business in darkness. She is venerated bythose who are bitter or are grieving over a loss and wish to find peace (espe-cially through vengeance) and by individuals who want to forget. She is alsoplacated by those who know their wits have been harmed and want to findpeace or those who have been mentally harmed and want to remember fullyor be restored in their minds. Many in Faerûn fear nightfall, the casting ofthe cloak of Shar, because of the dangers that lurk in its folds.

The church of Shar is largely composed of underground cells, ratherthan an overt, uniformed body of priests working from temples. As such, itsadherents have a covert, widespread, and complex hierarchy wherein everyfull priest serves a direct superior, an overpriest responsible for a large area,and beings (both human and otherwise) who know the priest�s Own Secret(the personal name Shar gave them and the dark deed they performed forher in order to demonstrate their loyalty and win that name). Clergy mem-bers revel in secrecy, and cells of the church are organized around smallcongregations of worshipers who know and are led by a single priest. Manypriests may operate in the same area, and although they may know of andaid each other, they work independently. In this way, should one cell of thechurch fail, the others can still flourish in its absence.

Most Sharran clergy use such titles of address as �Brother Night� or�Sister Night.� To superiors, they say �Mother Night� or �Father Night,�and lay worshipers address them so. Their formal titles include Adept of theNight (a novice), Watcher (the least senior ordained priest), Hand of Shar(a battle-tested priest who leads a force of priest-adventurers or overseesseveral cells), Darklord/Darklady (a senior priest able to proclaim local pol-icy), Nightseer (the overseer of all faithful in a realm or other large geo-graphical area) and Flame of Darkness (archpriest or personally trusted ser-vant of the goddess).

Specialty priests of Shar are called nightcloaks. Until five years ago, theywere called nightbringers, only existed outside the standard church hierar-chy, and served as contacts, messengers, and enforcers of the Dark Lady�swill. They still perform such detached liaison and enforcement functions,but some nightcloaks have now become integrated into the cell struc-ture/hierarchy of the church, especially among the clergy of the Dark Em-brace, discussed below.

Shar�s hatred of Selûne extends to her clergy and their relationshipswith the church of Selûne. The two faiths war continually, and jihads andassassination plots against Selûnites are common where Shar is strong. Oneof the reasons the church of Shar remains so small is a byproduct of thisendless war. Several holy wars and vendettas led by Sharrans against morepowerful forces of Selûnites have resulted in many Sharran casualties.

Dogma: Dark Followers (the faithful of Shar) are instructed to revealsecrets only to fellow faithful and to never follow hope or turn to promisesof success. They should quench the light of the moon (the faithful ofSelûne and their holdings, deeds, and magic) whenever they find it andhide from it when they cannot prevail. Above all, the dark should be a timeto act, not to wait.

Faithful of Shar are not supposed to hope and are therefore forbidden tostrive to better their lot in life or to plan ahead except in matters directlyoverseen by the clergy of the Dark Goddess. Consorting with beings ofgood alignment who actively serve their deities is a sin unless undertakento take advantage of them in purely business dealings or to corrupt themfrom their beliefs into the service of Shar. Devotees of Shar must not speakout against clergy of the goddess, nor interrupt their devotional dances forany reason. Lay worshipers must prove their faith by obedience to theclergy and by carrying out at least one dark deed ordered by a priest of Sharevery year�or bringing at least one being to believe in, and worship, theDark Goddess.

The lower clergy of Shar must obey their superiors in all matters, shortof following orders that will lead to their own death�Shar desires to gainfollowers, not lose them. To win new followers and to keep the faithful trulyloyal, clergy must see that some of the dark desires of worshipers are fulfilled(such as the elimination of business rivals).

Day-to-Day Activities: The clergy of Shar seem to pursue practical,local goals designed to further the power of the priesthood and of those whoworship Shar, rather than to openly oppose other faiths (save that ofSelûne). Shar desires to bring all humans under her sway by promoting gen-eral lawlessness and strife. In this way, most folk will suffer loss and turn toher for peace (especially through vengeance), and the influence of all otherfaiths will be lessened.

Specifically, Sharran clergy are enjoined to work covertly to bring downall governments, particularly within cities, and to publicize Shar�s patron-age of avengers so that the desperate and despairing humans of other faithsturn to her to get revenge and not the weakened demipower of vengeance,Hoar. Sponsorship of thieving guilds and hedonistic clubs of all sorts is akey part of this assault on order, as is the encouragement of political in-trigue everywhere. Widespread war and slavery are things to be avoided;Shar wants to gain followers, not see their lives thrown away for no gain.

Shar�s love of secrecy is strong. Her clergy work toward fulfilling her de-sire for secrecy by always acting through manipulation and behind-closed-doors intrigue. They also work through and promote shadowy cabals and

organizations that appeal to human desires to be a part of something eliteand important, to keep secrets, and to be involved in the mysterious. Fiftyor more false cults that have arisen in the past two decades have been bornof secret clubs and cabals begun by Sharran priests to corrupt the peace andlawfulness of various cities.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: As so many devotees of Sharkeep their faith secret (and this secrecy is encouraged by senior clergy),the Sharran faith has no set holy days aside from the Feast of the Moon.To Dark Followers (the faithful of Shar) this holiday is known as the Ris-ing of the Dark. They gather on it under cover of the more widespreadvenerations of the dead to witness a blood sacrifice and learn of any plotor aims the clergy want them to work toward during the winter ahead.

The most important Sharran ritual of worship is Nightfall, the comingof darkness. Clergy hold this ritual every night. It consists of a brief invo-cation, a dance, a charge or series of inspiring instructions from the god-dess spoken by one of the clergy or by a raven-haired female lay wor-shiper, and a revel celebrated by eating, drinking, and dancing together.Lay worshipers must attend at least one Nightfall (or dance to the goddessthemselves) and must perform-and report to their fellows�at least onesmall act of wickedness in salute to the Lady every tenday. On moonlessnights, Nightfall is known as the Coming of the Lady, and every congre-gation must carry out some significant act of vengeance or wickedness inthe Dark Lady�s name.

The most important ceremony of the priesthood of Shar is the Kiss of the Lady, a horrific night-long revel of slaying and doing dark deeds in thename of the lady that ends with a feast at dawn. Kissmoots are scheduledirregularly, whenever the priests of Old Night decree. Increasingly therival clergy of the Embrace have been proclaiming that this ritual be cel-ebrated at different times than those decreed by the temple of Old Night.

Major Centers of Worship: The Temple of Old Night in Calimportis the oldest, haughtiest seat of worship to Shar. It is a subterranean com-

Sisters of Light and Darkness

T Realmspace, there was a period of timeless nothingness, a misty realm

his was the birth of the world and the heavens. After Lord Ao created

of shadows before light and dark were separate entities. Within this

dim chaos stalked 13 lords of shadow, the shadevari�whether they came from

elsewhere or are children of the shadow itself, none can say.

Eventually this primordial essence coalesced into twin beautiful goddesses

who were yin and yang to each other; they were so close they thought of them-selves as one being. The Two-Faced Goddess created the heavenly bodies of the

crystal sphere and together infused them with life to form the Earthmother,

Chauntea. (Although Chauntea has since contracted her essence to encompass

only Abeir-Toril, in the beginning she embodied all matter in Realmspace.) This

new universe was lit by the face of the silver-haired goddess, who called herself

Selûne, and darkened by the welcoming tresses of the raven-haired goddess,

Shar, but no heat or fire existed within it.

Chauntea begged for warmth so that she could nurture life and living crea-

tures upon the planets that were her body and limbs, and the two Sisters-Who-

Were-One became divided, as for the first time they were of two minds. Silvery

Selûne contested with her dark sister over whether or not to bring further life

to the worlds. During this great conflagration, the gods of war, disease, murder,

and death, among others, were created from residues of the deific battle. At

one point during the battle, Selûne seized the advantage and reached across

time and space to a land of eternal fire. Fighting the pain of the blaze, which

burned her sorely, she broke off a fragment of that ever-living flame and ignited

one of the heavenly bodies so that it burned in the sky and warmed Chauntea.

Incensed, Shar redoubled her attack on her injured twin and began to snuff

out all light and heat throughout the crystal sphere. Again Selûne gave of herself

and tore the divine essence of magic from her body, flinging it desperately at her

sister in defense of life in the sphere and nearly killing herself of the spiritual injury

it caused her. A just-born being of raw magic tore through Shar, bonding to some

of her divine magical energy and ripping it free of her, and reforming behind her as

the goddess of magic, known now as Mystra, but then as Mystryl. Though Mys-

tryl was composed of both light and dark magic, she favored her first mother

Selûne initially, allowing the silver goddess to win an uneasy truce with her more

powerful dark twin. Consumed by bitterness at her defeat, Shar vowed eternal

revenge.

The twin goddesses contested for eons as l ife struggled into existence on

Toril and the other planets under Chauntea's watchful gaze. Shar remained

powerful, but bitterly alone, while Selûne waxed and waned in power, often

drawing strength from her allied daughters and sons and like-minded immigrant

deities. Over time, Shar grew strong again, aided by the shadevari who preferred

night to blinding light and who stalked the Realms seeking to meld light and dark

into shadowy chaos once again. Shar's plot to reform the world after her own

desires was undone when Azuth, the High One, formally the greatest of all mor-

tal spellcasters and now consort to Mystra (incarnate successor to Mystryl),

found a way to imprison the shadevari in a pocket-sized crystal sphere located

beyond the edges of the world by creating the illusion of a realm of shadows. The

Lords of Shadow were drawn to investigate, and before they discovered the

trick, Azuth imprisoned the shadevari with the Shadowstar, a key of shadows

forged by Gond. The High Lord then hurled the key into the endless reaches of

the cosmos allowing life to flourish on in Chauntea's loving hands.

plex underlying much of the eastern city ruled by the highest-rankedknown mortal servant of Shar: the aged Irtemara, the Dancer BeforeDawn, a debauched and jaded Calishite woman famous for her revels andmurderous whims (which, over the years, have brought about at least sixchanges of government in various realms across Faerûn). Irtemara is loy-ally served by three male priests who work covertly against each other.They will undoubtedly break into open battle for supremacy whenIrtemara dies.

The Temple of Old Night vies for supremacy over the Dark Followerswith the Dark Embrace, a temple founded not quite 40 years ago by clergyof the Dark Goddess dissatisfied with the leadership of Old Night. TheEmbrace perches atop a crag in Amn, overlooking the midpoint of thetrade road linking Imnescar and Esmeltaran. Its policies are more ruthlessthan those proclaimed in Calimport�the faithful of the Embrace aremore openly active in local politics wherever they operate, employing as-sassinations where intimidation and the fulfillment of dark desires fail.The Embrace is led by a small circle of clergy whose leader seems to bethe Eye in the Flame Aubert Heldynstar. Most clergy of the Dark Em-brace are nightcloaks.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Shar sponsors no fighting orders orknightly orders. Crusaders who serve the faith are attached to particularSharran cells and temples, not the faith in general. Clergy of the faithwho have killed one of the clergy of Selûne are rumored to gain access toan honorary order or secret society known as the Dark Justiciars. Manythieves� guilds have connections to Sharran cells, and such affiliatedgroups use each other for their particular plots mercilessly.

Priestly Vestments: The colors purple and black are used extensivelyin Shar�s church and among her followers. Most Sharran clergy dress inblack cloaks or soft, silent dark garb with purple trim, piping, or acces-sories during rituals. High ceremonial dress for those of rank or taking aspecial role in a ritual is a long-sleeved robe of deep purple over blacktights or a black velvet chemise. A black skullcap covers the entire head,except for on women with jet-black hair. Such hair is seen as a symbol ofthe Dark Lady�s pleasure and is left to flow unfettered and long. Less com-monly encountered versions of Shar�s symbol than the one mentionedabove are of a glistening purple eye outlined in black with a black pupil ora cowled hunting cloak of unadorned black stretched out flat.

Adventuring Garb: Sharran clergy wear practical clothes in the fash-ion of the land they are in while pursuing day-to-day life. They are fond ofjewelry fashioned from obsidian, black onyx, amethyst, and purple jade,but they are not required to wear it. When entering a situation wherethey might encounter hostilities, they wear armor and take appropriateprotective measures.

Specialty Priests (Nightcloaks)Strength 14, Wisdom 12Strength, WisdomNE

REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERESS:

All bludgeoning weaponsAll armor types up to and including chain mail andshieldAll, astral, charm, combat, divination, guardian, necro-mantic, protection, sun (only those which create dark-ness), time, thoughtCreation, elemental, healingSame as clericsDancing

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS: Blind-fighting, direction sense� At 1st level, nightcloaks may create darkness once per day (as the reverse

of the 1st-level priest spell light). For each two additional levels (3rd, 5th)7th, etc.), the priest gains the ability to create darkness again that day.

� At 3rd level, nightcloaks are able to cast blindness once per day (as the2nd-level wizard spell).

� At 5th level, nightcloaks may create continual darkness once per day (as

the reverse of the 3rd-level priest spell continual light). For each five ad-ditional levels, the nightcloak gains the ability to create continual dark-ness again that day.

• At 7th level, nightcloaks may cast forget (as the 2nd-level wizard spell)once per day.

• At 9th level, nightcloaks may cast nightmare (as the reversed form ofthe 5th-level wizard spell dream) once per day.

• At 13th level, nightcloaks may cast shadow door (as the 5th-level wiz-ard spell), eyebite (as the 6th-level wizard spell), or veil (as the 6th-levelwizard spell) once per day.

• In darkness (even that of their own creation), nightcloaks have a +1bonus to hit, damage, and on saving throws. This is not cumulativewith other darkness modifiers, hut replaces them unless they are morebeneficial to the priest.

• In the light of a full moon, nightcloaks have a -1 penalty to hit, dam-age, and on saving throws.

Sharran Spells3rd LevelArmor of Darkness (Alteration)Sphere: Protection, SunRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: The caster or 1 touched creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a flickering, impressive-seeming shroud of magical dark-ness around the caster or a single touched recipient creature. The aura can,if the caster desires, conceal the wearer’s features. In any case, it improvesthe wearer’s Armor Class by 1 point for every four experience levels of thecaster (round down). It also lessens all nonmagical damage suffered by thewearer by 1d4 points per round. (This reduction changes to 2d4 points ifthe caster is of 12th level or greater.)

The wearer of armor of darkness can see through the armor as if it didnot exist and is also afforded 60-foot-range infravision by the spell. All be-ings within armor of darkness are immune to hypnotic magic and other ef-fect, that depend on vision and receive a +2 bonus on saving throws vs.enchantment/charm school spells, charm sphere spells, and psionics ofsimilar effect. Undead creatures wearing armor of darkness are immune toturning and dispelling attempts caused by things that they must see—theblow of a mace of disruption, for instance, would still destroy one if it failedits saving throw vs. the disruptive effect.

Whip of Shar (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 5’-long, flexible beam of forceSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a flickering black beam of force 1 inch in thickness sur-rounded by a purple halo. It is wielded by the caster, whom it cannot harm.It the caster successfully strikes with the whip in combat, the struck crea-ture suffers 2d4 points of damage. Undead are affected as if by a turning at-tempt by a priest of three levels higher than the whip - caster.

Living creatures struck by a whip of Shar must also make a successfulsaving throw vs. spell or he unable to attack on the following round be-cause they are writhing in pain and unable to control their actions.Writhing victims incur no Armor Class penalties, but must make success-ful Dexterity ability checks to avoid dropping all held and wielded items(one check per item). Victims struck in successive rounds are less prone tofalling victim to this facet of the whip’s attacks due to a numbness pro-duced from repeated exposure. Hits in successive rounds cause the secondsaving throw to be at a +1 bonus, the third saving throw to he at a +2bonus, and so on. A whip of Shar has no effect on even the most fragile ofnonliving objects and cannot be used to bind, constrict, or entangle. It isconsidered a magical weapon for purposes of which creatures it may strike.

The material components of this spell are three sharp-edged pieces ofblack obsidian or glass and a long, black hair from any evil creature.

4th LevelCreature of Darkness (Alteration, Illusion/Phantasm)Sphere: SunRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a mobile, upright, vaguely human-shaped, bipedal fieldof magical darkness that quenches magical light and continual light on con-tact without itself being affected. This shadow person can be controlledfrom afar, floating at MV 12, and sent into areas where the caster cannotgo. The caster then perceives the shadow person’s surroundings dimly, as ifseeing through eyes the person does not in fact possess. (This vision is notgood enough to read by, see expressions, or recognize the features of abeing.) This unintelligent aura of magical gloom cannot be used to carrysolid objects or convey magical effects requiring that a target he touched(though rumors hold that the most powerful Sharran priests employ an im-proved version of this spell that can do both those things). The shadowperson can be used to lure, to warn (pointing to beings, objects, or evenmarkings on a map), or for concealment.

If a living being walks within the creature of darkness, its magic expandsit to completely cloak the being and so conceal its identity. Such a cloakedbeing can see as if the gloom of the creature did not exist. Living beingscan attack or freely pass into, out of, and through a creature of darknesswithout dispelling it. If a creature of darkness is worn in this manner by itscreator, the caster can use the magic of the creature to levitate for up tofour consecutive rounds (rising up to 20 feet per round) or as a feather fall.Either such usage ends the spell.

The material components of a creature of darkness are a bit of black orgray fur or down from any flying creature, a pinch of soot, and a strand ofspider web.

Darkbolt (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 1 creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell unleashes a 4-inch beam of darkness in a straight line from thecaster’s hand. The beam ends whenever it strikes a creature within range.One darkbolt can he hurled per round until the spell expires or the casterworks another spell. A darkbolt does no damage to nonliving things, butchills living creatures for 2d4 points of damage and acts as a one-roundhold spell on undead creatures. (A successful saving throw vs. paralyzationnegates this effect on undead.) Struck victims are also afflicted with magi-cal silence lasting 1d4 rounds. If a struck creature succeeds at a savingthrow vs. spell, it is not silenced, but takes only the damage.

Shaundakul

(The Rider of the Winds, the Helping Hand)

Lesser Power (formerly Demipower) of Ysgard, CN

PORTFOLIO: Travel, exploration, long-range traders, miners, cara-vans, windghosts

ALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Ysgard/ShaunidaurSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Akadi, Miel ikki , Selûne, Shevarash, Solonor The-

landira, Tymora, Gwaeron Windstrom, Shiallia, Luruethe Unicorn, Nobanion

FOES: Beshaba, SharSYMBOL: An upright silver left hand with palm out and fingers

together, its wrist trailing away into rippling winds on ablack or deep purple background of circling winds

WOR. ALIGN.: LG, LN, NG, N, CG, CN

Shaundakul (SHAWN-da-kul) the Rider of theWinds, was the god of travel and exploration in oldMyth Drannor. His existence may date back to thetime of the Rus, forbears of the Rashemaar, or be-yond. In the time of Myth Drannor, he was wor-shiped by humans and half-elves, particularly thosewho were caravan merchants, traders, explorers,miners and adventurers in the uncharted wilder-

ness of the Moonsea North. He was a keen-eyed guide who pointed outthe hidden lodes and ways of the North, and brought luck and battle-valor to worshipers in need.

In the days following the Dawn Cataclysm, Shaundakul is said to havehad a brief dalliance with Tymora and spurned the advances of LadyLuck’s sister, Beshaba. The Maid of Misfortune vowed revenge, and theRider of the Wind’s luck finally faltered during the assault on Myth Dran-nor. Shaundakul’s worship fell with his worshipers when Myth Drannorwas destroyed. Most of his faithful perished in the final battle against theArmy of Darkness. Mielikki absorbed the surviving rangers, and Waukeenthe traders.

At his high point, Shaundakul was an intermediate power, but afterthe fall of Myth Drannor he declined to the status of a lesser power andbordered on demipower status. By the Fall of the Gods, Shaundakul’sclergy had fallen to a mere double handful of priests scattered throughoutthe North, and Shaundakul was a demipower reduced to brooding overfallen Myth Drannor. Only a few prospectors and caravan merchants stillworshiped him in quiet, underground cults or fellowships.

During the Godswar, Shaundakul roamed the ruins of Myth Drannorwith increased frequency and is believed to have battled and destroyed atleast one demipower of the orc, gnoll, or giant pantheons. Since the Timeof Troubles, a reinvigorated Shaundakul has increased his efforts toreestablish his worship throughout the North. Combined with the influxof traders and caravan merchants who have begun to venerate him withthe disappearance of Waukeen (Lliira seems unconcerned by their collec-tive choice), Shaundakul’s faith has undergone a rapid revitalization. TheHelping Hand is being called upon once again throughout the North andhas just gained enough worship to reattain lesser power status. WhetherShaundakul will keep the worship of traders and caravan masters if Wau-keen returns to the Realms is unknown at this time.

Shaundakul’s spheres of influence overlap slightly with several othergods including Helm, Ll i i ra (serving in Waukeen’s stead), Miel ikki,Selûne, and, in particular, Tymora. None of these powers is likely to tol-erate any further encroachment on their portfolios, potentially severelycurtailing the long-term growth of Shaundakul’s faith.

Shaundakul is a god of few words. He lets his deeds speak for him. Heis kind and yet stern, but often displays a rugged sense of humor. He issometimes lonely and enjoys a good chat—especially if he can tradejokes. He is eager to gain new worshipers, and if given the opportunity, hetries to persuade any ranger, fighter, wizard, or thief of appropriate align-ment to join his faithful. His avatar often wanders the ruins of MythDrannor striding to the aid of otherwise doomed adventurers, and heknows much about Myth Drannor’s history, mythal, and current inhabi-tants. In exchange for his aid in such situations, he demands one servicethat often involves destroying or driving out from Myth Drannor a fiendfrom the lower planes or another powerful monster. Shaundakul himself issaid to stalk the layers of Ysgard, and occasionally the Beastlands, huntingfierce beasts and evil giants with his attendant windghosts (detailed inThe Ruins of Myth Drannor boxed set and the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM

Annual: Volume One).The “Kiss of Beshaba” still bedevils the Rider of the Winds in the

lands of Anauroch. Shaundakul is cursed as the “Treacherous Lurker inthe Sands” by the Bedine nomads who call the desert home. He is por-trayed as a mischievous, malicious trickster appearing as a jackal-headedman. In truth, here he is impersonated and his reputation has been sub-verted by Beshaba, with the aid of the phaerimm living beneath Anau-roch and, later, ruined Myth Drannor. In Anauroch, Shaundakul is nonblamed for blinding folk, drying out oases, causing travelers to becomelost, and al l the other misfortunes that beset the Bedine. The only“windghosts” serving this false aspect of Shaundakul are mad watchghosts(detailed in The Realms of Undermountain boxed set). Shaundakul is plan-ning to reclaim his good name in the lands of Anauroch, but the phaer-imm and Beshaba are likely to oppose this plan at every opportunity.

Shaundakul�s Avatar(Ranger 30, Fighter 21, Cleric 21, Wizard 20)Shaundakul appears as a tall, handsome man with dark hair and a regal man-ner. He is clad in a dark, swirling cloak that IS always whipped as if byswirling winds and that blurs the outlines of his figure. Usually only his head

quite touch the ground, so he walks in silence but for the keening whistle of

and arms and his massive two-handed sword are clearly seen. He is plainlydressed in the leather armor favored by most rangers. His booted feet never

Shaundakul may appear in answer to a priest’s cry for divine aid from athreatened altar, or the dying or sacrificial plea of a faithful worshiper who

winds that is always with him.

has performed heroic and spectacular feats. He has been known to appear tolost or injured worshipers at their campfires by night and even in extraordi-nary circumstances to stand and fight when wolves, orcs, or worse menance aworshiper who has called on him.

Shaundakul casts spells from all schools and spheres, hut primarily acts toheal and protect worshipers; hence, he favors spells from the spheres of div-ination, guardian, healing, and protection and from the schools of abjura-tion and divination.

AC -3; MV 15, F1 36: HP 224: THAC0 -9: #AT 5/2Dmg 1d10+18 (two-handed sword +5, +11 STR, +2 spec. bonus in two-handed sword)MR 50%; SZ L to H (anywhere from 6 to 18 feet)STR 23, DEX 21, CON 24, INT 18, WIS 18, CHA 18Spells P: 11/11/10/10/8/6/2, W: 5/5/5/5/5/4/3/3/2Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: Shaundakul is armed with the Sword of Shadows, a two-handed sword +5 that grows from 6 feet to 14 feet long, depending on his pre-sent size. It does normal damage to large creatures (3d6+18), double damageto ogres, trolls, goblinkin, giantkin, and giants (6d6+18), and triple damageto undead creatures (9d6+18). He can cast gust of wind as often as he desires,but casting it counts against the number of spells he can cast per round.

Shaundakul (with his sword and all other items he carries) can instantlybecome a swirling, shadowy figure of winds in any round in which he uses nomagic. In this form, he suffers only halt damage from purely physical attacks.It takes him a round to solidify. He can use magic while in wind form, butcannot make physical attacks. He regenerates 1 hit point per round. Naturalextremes of heat and cold have no effect on him. He is immune to all ele-mental air school and sphere spells unless he wants them to effect him.

Other ManifestationsShaundakul typically manifests as a great, disembodied hand glowing withunearthly radiance and surrounded by swirling winds. This hands speaks andpoints the way, and can issue forth spells from its forefinger. This appearancealso accounts for Shaundakul’s common appellation, the Helping Hand.

Shaundakul has also been known to send one or more windghosts to aidbesieged worshipers making a desperate stand in the wild. He may aid faith-ful worshipers by creating moving wind walls to guard them in battle situa-tions or even turn a trapped worshiper into wraithform to allow escape. Hehas also been known to send squirrels, wolves,long-ranging birds (gulls,hawks), and rabbits to guide or aid his faithful. He manifests his displeasurewith one of his faithful by creating a wind wall in his or her path.

The ChurchCLERGY: Specialty priests, crusaders, rangersCLERGY’S ALIGN.: NG, CG, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, R: NoCMND. UNDEAD: SP: No, Cru: No, R: NoAll specialty priests and crusaders of Shaundakul receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Shaundakul has few temples in the Realms, as the members of his clergyare generally struck with wanderlust and rarely remain in one place. How-ever, they have constructed numerous shrines to the Rider of the Windsthroughout the Moonsea North. Typically, a shrine to Shaundakul is a stonedais built atop a high place, crowned with a stone seat or throne, and ac-companied by one or more stone pillars pierced with holes that the windwhistles through. May such shrines exist throughout the Moonsea Northand the Stonelands, some of them over a thousand years old.

All clerics of Shaundakul became specialty priests at the conclusion ofthe Time of Troubles. About 10% of Shaundakul’s clergy members are cru-saders (known as windfists), 20% are rangers (known as zephyrs or mistrals),and the rest are specialty priests (known as windwalkers). At the conclusionof the Godswar, Shaundakul’s only known priests were Juxril Thammarcastof Waterdeep (hm P9),who held services at the Plinth; Eldrisel Tylosar of

Huddagh (hm P6); Aszerra Untlimmer in Ordulin (a fat, motherly hf P6);Phelos Mistarn in Hillsfar (an elderly, grim hm P7), a noted scholar on thehistory of the Dragonreach); Maurith Slindearyl in Elventree (a beautiful,very young hf P4); and Waertin Nanszrai (an aging, bespectacled hem P8)in Elmwood. Shaundakul�s clergy has expanded dramatically since the Timeof Troubles, and his clergy members now number several hundred and hischurch continues to grow.

There is no clear hierarchy in Shaundakul�s faith, although those priestswho served the Rider of the Winds prior to the Godswar hold positions ofgreat respect in the church. Shaundakul�s name is not well known in thecities of the Realms, but more and more travelers are visiting his shrinesand invoking his name when traveling in the North.

Priests of Shaundakul use a variety of self-chosen appellations, but aloose hierarchy of standard titles does exist. In ascending order of rank,these include: Seeker of the Wind, Scout, Trailblazer, Explorer, Guide ofthe Hidden Ways, Rider of the West Wind, Rider of the South Wind, Riderof the East Wind, Rider of the North Wind, and Lord High Windhand.

of Shaundakul as frequently as possible and to construct new ones whenthey acquire sufficient resources.

Dogma: Priests of Shaundakul are usually quite reserved concerningtheir fellowship of worship, seeking to spread the teachings of Shaundakulthrough example. Priests of the Helping Hand are to actively work toreestablish their god's sphere of influence among traders, particularly trail-blazers who explore new lands and open new trade routes. They are to actas scouts, guards, and leaders for parties of explorers, caravans, and miningexpeditions. They are to unearth ancient shrines of Shaundakul and re-sanctify them.

The charge given to postulants is as follows: �Ride the wind and let ittake you wherever it blows. Aid those in need and trust in the HelpingHand. The world is large with many lands as yet undiscovered. Seek out theriches of the earth and the sea and journey to distant horizons. Be the firstto see the rising sun, the mountain peaks, the lush valleys; let your footstepsfall where none have tread. This is the wonder of the world.�

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Shaundakul are expected to providefor themselves by living off the land, hiring themselves out as scouts andcaravan guards to trading costers, or running caravans through the Moon-sea North and beyond. Many serve as guides for adventuring companies oras explorers. A very few are Harpers. All seek to visit the scattered shrines

On occasion a priest of Shaundakul is accompanied by a windghost, aservant creature sent by Shaundakul. Such priests are typically engaged in aspecific mission for the god and are usually powerful adventurers.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Shaundakul�s clergy celebratesonly one holy day per year. The 15th of Tarsakh is known as the Windride.No matter where they are, priests must seek out a strong breeze and cast awraithform or wind walk spell at dawn. (Priests who do not have access to ei-ther spell are granted access to the former on this one day, regardless oflevel. In addition, the duration of either spell is extended to last from dawnto dusk.) Shaundakul�s priests then spend the day soaring with the wind,swooping and swirling wherever chance may take them. They always landsafely, usually in a region they have never been to before.

Shaundakul�s clergy members have a few simple ceremonies they prac-tice when appropriate. They are to utter a simple prayer every time thewind changes significantly. Whenever they discover previously unchartedterritory (such as an undiscovered valley, lake, or island), they are to createa small throne of rocks marked with Shaundakul�s symbol near the locationwhere they first made the discovery. If of sufficient level, they are to createa shrine to Shaundakul using stone shape magics.

Major Centers of Worship: The major temple of the Rider of theWinds in the Realms at his faith�s heyday was Shaundakul�s Throne inMyth Drannor, though he had many shrines in the North, particularly inthe Moonsea region. One shrine frequently visited today is Lanthalas�s Re-quiem, located west of the Stonebolt Trail in the Stonelands.

Shaundakul�s Throne still stands, often guarded by the avatar of the god.It consists of two towers linked by walls that form an enclosed courtyard toa large central building containing an undercroft where the clergy lived inyear�s past and a huge dais (the Throne itself) open to the sky, whereShaundakul was worshiped. High-level members of Shaundakul�s faithsometimes make a pilgrimage to the ancient temple, often receiving a greatboon from the Rider of the Winds if they survive the dangerous trip.

Affiliated Orders: Since the Time of Troubles, several military ordershave been founded in the name of Shaundakul. The Fellowship of the NextMountain is an order of rangers and windwalkers who typically work alone,blazing trails in the uncharted wilderness areas of the Sword Coast Northand Moonsea North.

The Knights of the Shadow Sword are an elite order of crusaders, wind-walkers, and rangers. Founded by the half-elf Jax Nightsong and based inShaundakul�s Throne, they are dedicated to cleaning Myth Drannor of theevil that haunts its streets and ruins. Initially, they are fortifying the ancienttemple as a base of operations and sending out scouts to reconnoiter the ru-ined city.

The Riders of the West Wind are an order of windwalkers and a fewrangers who hire themselves out as mercenary company to guard caravansheading through uncharted wilderness to distant lands. Having just re-turned from Sossal, they are rumored to be planning an expedition to thefabled lands of Anchorôme in the near future.

Priestly Vestments: Shaundakul�s priesthood has straightforward cere-monial raiment. All priests sport a dark swirling cloak over garb appropriatefor the trail. As a holy symbol, they wear a leather or chain gauntlet staineddeep purple or tinted black (respectively) on their primary hand (and some-times on their off hand as well). They symbol of Shaundakul�a silver up-

Specialty Priests (Windwalkers)REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERESS:

MINOR SPHERES:

MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics and rangersREQ. PROFS: Herbalism or tracking (pick one), sword (any kind)BONUS PROFS: Either direction sense or navigation (pick one), and ei-

ther survival (any terrain) or endurance (pick one)� Humans and half-elves can become windwalkers.� Half-elf windwalkers are allowed to multiclass as windwalker/rangers.

(If the DM 11 allows kits from The Complete Ranger�s Handbook, they are

right left hand with its wrist trailing away into rippling winds�is depictedon the palm and back of the gauntlet.

Adventuring Garb: The adventuring garb of Shaundakul�s priests isnot noticeably different from their ceremonial vestments. His priesthoodtypically favors leather armor, but sometimes wears studded leather armoror chain mail. Its members favor great swords, such as the two-handedsword or claymore, and often wield long or short bows. They always wearthe dark, swirling cloak and gauntlet of their faith.

Strength 13, Constitution 11, Wisdom 14Strength, Constitution, WisdomCN, CGAnyAll armor types up to and including chain mail andmedium or smaller shieldsAll, astral, combat, elemental air, healing, protection,travelers, weatherAnimal, creation, divination, elemental earth, elemen-tal water, guardian, necromantic, plant, sun

allowed to take the explorer or pathfinder ranger kit.)� Windwalkers can select nonweapon proficiencies from both the priest

and warrior groups with no crossover penalty.�

�

�

At 5th level, windwalkers are able to cast shield (as the 1st-level wizardspell) or wraithform (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) once per day.At 7th level, windwalkers are able to cast find the path (as the 6th-levelpriest spell) once per day.

Windwalkers can move silently and hide in shadows as a ranger of thesame level. All normal Dexterity, race, and armor modifiers apply.Windwalkers are able to cast helping hand (as the 3rd-level priest spell),whispering wind (as the 2nd-level wizard spell), or unseen servant (as the1st-level wizard spell) once a day.At 3rd level, windwalkers are able to cast gust of wind or wind wall (asthe 3rd-level wizard spells) once per day.

�

�

� At 7th level, windwalkers can make three melee attacks every tworounds.

� At 10th level, windwalkers can never become lost on Abeir-Toril unlesstransported to a region through magic (such as a through the use of agate, a teleport spell, or astral spell). Once they again determine wherethey are, they can never get lost until again transported by magic.

� At 13th level, windwalkers can make two melee attacks per round.� At 15th level, windwalkers are able to cast wind walk (as the 7th-level

priest spell) once per day.

Shaundakun Spells2nd LevelFavor of Shaundakul (Alteration)Sphere: TravelersRange: SpecialComponents: V, S, MDuration: Special

Components: V, SCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneFavor of Shaundakul creates a serendipitous occurrence during a taxing ordangerous journey. It makes something go right when everything else isgoing wrong. The exact effect must be determined by the DM and is in noway controlled by the caster. Favor of Shuundakul only functions in wilder-ness settings or severe weather conditions while the caster is on a journey.It does not work while the caster is at home, as one’s home is considered theend or beginning of a journey, not a point in the midst of one.

Typical effects include finding a safe place to camp, being able to start afire in wet conditions, finding shelter in a blinding snowstorm, stumblingacross an oasis while crossing the desert, finding a rare herb native to theregion which cures a particular disease or neutralizes a particular poison,finding a light source while in darkness, etc. This never gives bonuses orpenalties to any sort of roll.

The material component is the caster’s holy symbol, which is not con-sumed in the casting.

3rd LevelShadow Sword (Illusion/Phantasm)Sphere: Combat, SunRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a shadow sword that must be physically wielded by thespellcaster. The type, speed, size, and weight of the shadow sword can beequal to any type of sword the spellcaster is familiar with. (For example, ifthe caster has seen and practiced with a long sword, she or he could createa shadow long sword. If the caster has never seen and worked with akhopesh, she or he could not create a shadow khopesh.) This spell does notconfer proficiency in the chosen weapon.

A shadow sword functions in all ways as a magical sword +1 of the se-lected type. In addition, it functions with a +2 attack and damage bonusagainst ogres, trolls, goblinkin, giantkin, and giants. It functions with a +3attack and damage bonus against undead creatures.

If at any time the casting priest releases the shadow sword (something thecasting priest can only do voluntarily) or the shadow sword enters an area ofabsolute darkness the spell immediately expires. If a light, continual light, con-tinual darkness, or similar spell is cast directly on a shadow sword, both theshadow sword and the cast spell are immediately canceled.

The somatic component of this spell involves the caster reaching agauntleted hand into an area of deep shadow and drawing forth the shadowsword. The material component of this spell is the priest’s holy symbol (agauntlet) in which the shadow sword must be wielded. The gauntlet is notconsumed in the casting.

4th LevelGauntlet of Winds (Alteration, Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Elemental Air, WeatherRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One gauntletSav ing Throw: NoneThis spell enchants a gauntlet (the Shaundakun priest’s holy symbol) into amagical gauntlet of winds. The caster can then use the gauntlet of wind to cre-ate one of the following spell effects per round: feather fall (as the 1st-levelwizard spell), gust of wind (as the 3rd-level wizard spell), wind wall (as the 3rd-level wizard spell), or calm winds (as the 4th-level priest spell described underthe entry for Akadi). Each effect lasts one round. Each effect can be renewedor repeated the following round, or a different effect can be selected. If duringany round the caster’s concentration is interrupted, the spell lapses.

The material component of this spell is the priest’s holy symbol, which isnot consumed in the casting.

5th LevelDead Magic Shield (Alteration)Sphere: ProtectionRange: 0

Duration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: A shimmering disc-shaped shield of force 2 feet in di-

ameterSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a shimmering disc-shaped shield of force 2 feet in diameteraffixed to the left or right forearm of the caster as chosen during casting. Ifthe caster is not wielding a weapon two-handed, carrying a shield, or castinga spell, the dead magic shield can be used to block magical attacks. If thecaster wields a weapon in his or her other hand, the priest can attack with amelee weapon while employing the dead magic shield.

A dead magic shield does not have any effect on Armor Class or physicalattacks. However, if successfully interposed between the caster and a spell ora spell-like power, it harmlessly dissipates the spell. Area-of-effect spells canbe blocked from affecting the caster and anyone physically shielded by himor her. Touch spells can be dissipated as well by forcing the attacker to bringhis or her hand into contact with the dead magic shield.

To block a spell, the caster must make a successful saving throw vs. spellwith a +1 bonus to the roll for every three experience levels of the spell-caster, rounding up, to a maximum of +5. Even if a spell is not blocked (inother words, the saving throw is failed), if the spell normally allows a savingthrow against its effects, the dead magic shield wielder is still entitled to a sav-ing throw with a +2 bonus.

Silvanus(Oak Father, the Forest Father, the Old Oak,Treefather, Old Father Tree)Greater Power of the Outlands, NPORTFOLIO: Wild nature, druidsALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Outlands/Tir na Og (in the Deep Forest)SUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Eldath, Mielikki, Chauntea, Lathander, Lurue the Uni-

corn, NobanionFOES:SYMBOL:

Malar, Moander (now dead), Talos, TalonaA green, living oak leaf, an oak tree in summer, or awooden staff sprouting tiny green leaflets and buds downits length

AnySilvanus (Sihl-VANN-us) is the god of wild and un-tamed nature in Faerûn; he is of equal power toChauntea, who represents a more ordered nature. Thetwo are on good terms, although Silvanus takes pride inhis true neutrality. He is served by Eldath and Mielikki,and many of the followers of one deity venerate theothers as well. They work closely together and seemgenuinely trusting and affectionate toward each other.

WOR. ALIGN.:

Silvanus hates Talos and Talona, whom his priests refer to as “the Un-balanced.” He most often reveals a beneficent, paternal nature toward hisfaithful, who number among them travelers, adventurers, explorers, sagesseeking knowledge in nature, rural communities far from the protection ofthe local lord, guides, hermits, wise women and men, herbalists, and a fewlong-sighted woodcutters and hunters (harvesting only the dead, the ex-cess, and the weak), as well as druids and rangers. He swiftly turns an un-caring and even righteously wrathful face toward any who threaten thewild places and woodlands of Faerûn. Those who disturb the balance areoften found at the edge of the forest torn to pieces by wild animals whocannot be tracked.

During the Time of Troubles, Silvanus is reported to have been seen inthe Winterwood and the Chondalwood, lending credence to the EmeraldEnclave’s (an activist circle/society of druids) claims that its efforts in theVilhon Reach are greatly favored by Silvanus.

Silvanus�s Avatar (Druid 40, Fighter 25, Mage 20)Silvanus appears in either old or young forms. The Old Father is an old,bearded, incredibly wise human male face floating in midair among trees orsometimes sprouting from the trunk of an especially old and large tree. Hisflesh is as brown, gray, and fissured as old wood. He casts spells from anypriest sphere or wizard school. Those from the plant, animal, and weatherspheres are cast at triple normal effect in all respects and targeted creaturesreceive a -3 penalty to all such saving throws.

The Young Strider is a long-limbed young man wearing scale armor withscales all in the shape of oak leaves. He appears most often when a sacredgrove is threatened or a circle of druids is attacked during worship. He es-pecially hates those who use fire carelessly or with deliberate intent to de-stroy. He also casts spells from any priest sphere or wizard school, but onlythose he casts from the weather sphere are at triple normal effect in all re-spects and a -3 penalty to saving throws.

AC -5; MV Fl 18 or stationary (Old Father), or MV 15 (48 among wooded areas)(Young Strider); HP 239; THAC0 -6; #AT 5/2Dmg 2d10+14 (great mallet of Silvanus, +12 STR, +2 spec. bonus in great mallet)MR 80%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 24, DEX 18, CON 24, INT 23, WIS 25, CHA 25Spells P: 17/16/16/15/15/14/12, W: 5/5/5/5/5/4/3/3/2Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: As the Old Father, Silvanus imparts knowledge,watches, bestows or hurls spells, and extends his power into living things inthe immediate vicinity. He can create and animate plants and fungi similarto any spell that effects living or dead plants or fungi in any sphere or school,shrink or enlarge animals, and summon to his aid and command with utterloyalty 3d20 of any sort of animals or giant animal analogs or 2d10 of anysort of sylvan creature (intelligent or not). He particularly enjoys summon-ing treants. He can turn any animal against its owner instantly.

The Young Strider wields the great mallet of Silvanus. He can call lightningonce a round or vomit forth either a fast-flowing stream of water or awolfhound (all in addition to attacking and castingspells). The watercomes forth in a cone up to 60 feet long and 20 feet indiameter at its fur-thest point that causes 5d6 points of damage when it hits. The wolfhoundhas the following statistics:

Wolfhound (1): THAC0 11; #AT 1; Dmg 2d10 (bite); AC 3;HD 10; hp 80; MV 15; SD regenerates 5 hp/round; SZ M (6 feetlong); INT Avg (8); AL N; ML 20 (unshakably loyal to Silvanuseven in the face of controlling magic or psionics); XP 2,000.

Other ManifestationsRather than appearing as an avatar, Silvanus prefers to appear as an oak leafblown out of nowhere as a sign, or if he must take direct physical action, as afire-quenching, eerie green glow that is always accompanied by the soundsof faintly whistling wind and running or dripping water. Alternatively, hemay manifest as a stag-horned, silent man with burning white eyes who ap-pears among the trees andhas shaggy brownfur that is almost barklike. Asthe Horned Man, Silvanusspeaks only in theminds of those hetouches andcan point, lift, and carry things (even hurling trees or logs), inscribe wordson wood by pointing with a fingertip, and cast spells (notably telekinesis ofawesome weight capacity). The Horned Man most often simply materializesto show himself and indicate something by a gesture, a shake or nod of thehead, or by pointing, and then fades away again.

Silvanus also indicates his favor or disfavor or sends aid through the pres-ence or actions of treants, brownies, dryads, deer, badgers, unicorns, satyrs,atomies, sprites, pixies, and other woodland monsters.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, druids, shamansCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LN, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, D: No, Sha: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, D: No, Sha: YesAll clerics, druids and shamans of Silvanus receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency.

The church of Silvanus is often referred to as the“greenleaf priesthood”after the symbol of its deity. Silvanus has a strong base among both clerics inurban areas and druids in the wilder territories. Like Chauntea he calls bothhis dear children, but in his case the druids are the favored of the two. Sil-vanus also has a few shamans among the nomadic and barbarian societies ofFaerûn who spread his word of balance and respect for nature while tendingto their tribes’ needs.

Silvanus’s clergy are spread throughout Faerûn, favoring small communi-ties over large cities, though there are several large communities of Silvanitesin major cities such as Waterdeep. Druids are the leaders and backbone of thegreenleaf priesthood and are most favored by Silvanus if they dwell in the for-est and live in harmony with the land, where they are best able to be thestewards of Faerûn’s wild places. Urban clergy of Silvanus more often becomegardeners, trying to create a walled corner of wild forest in the city (or guardand revitalize an existing miniature wood). They often seek to attract follow-

ers by preaching of the peace and purity of the wilds and dispensing herbs andsweetsap drinks (especially maple syrup, mint teas, and sweetroot brews).

Dogma: Silvanus sees and balances all, meting out both wild water anddrought, both fire and ice, both life and death. His priests tend to see thetotal situation, to view the macrocosm; their view is not confined to oneperson or one nation’s idea of what is best. This is not to say that priests ofSilvanus are neutral and take no sides. They are strongly on the side of wildnature, the natural state of matters, over any civilizing force.

All is in a cycle, deftly and beautifully balanced—and it is the duty of thedevout to see this cycle and the sacred Balance as clearly as possible, to makeothers see it (whether they worship the Oak Father or no), and to workagainst all beings and things who seek to disturb the Balance. This is bestdone by watching, anticipating, and quiet manipulation. Silvanites shouldresort to violence and open confrontation only when pressure of time, situa-tion, or hostile action makes it necessary. Ultimately, the faithful are to keepthe Balance—when one must act in one way one day, take the opposing sideon another day. Always keep the Balance.

Those aspiring to join the clergy of Silvanus are charged to fight againstthe felling of forests, banish disease wherever they find it, and defend thetrees and plant new ones whenever possible. They are to seek out, serve, andbefriend the dryads and learn their names. They are to kill only when need-ful, for all things in the forest are in balance, to destroy fire and those whoemploy it, and to beware orcs and others who bring axes into the forest.

Day-to-Day Activities: Most disturbances of the sacred Balance are dueto too-heavy hunting or farming, which bring with them land clearances—essentially population pressures. The greenleaf priesthood is kept busy work-ing to redirect development and control populations through covert spon-sorship of brigands, breeding and selective placing of predators, and othermeans. It is essential that such work be as secretive as possible, so that mostfolk view the servants of Silvanus as essentially benign lovers of trees.Wildlife breeding, nursing sick animals, and replanting trees and wild shrubsare all work that should be done as publicly as possible to support this per-ception—and as necessary work to redress the slipping Balance, of course.

To do this work properly, two skills are essential to all Silvanite clergy:learning through instruction and lifelong study the intricate workings of thelife-cycles of all living creatures in Faerûn and learning to take the long-term view so that the manifold implications of every action and combina-tion of actions can be seen clearly well into the future. By planning for thelong term, Silvanite clergy hope never to take a serious misstep and worsenany shift of the Balance. Superior patience, natural knowledge, and antici-pation are the hallmarks of a worthy servant of Silvanus. They are also thequalities that make any Silvanite priest a deadly foe. A Silvanite shouldnever be surprised and always be three or four steps ahead of an opponent,prepared for victories well beyond the battles that an enemy can see.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Priests of Silvanus pray to the For-est Father at all tunes, though the god seems to respond best to prayers atsunset and in moonlight. Greengrass, Midsummer Night, Higharvestide,and the Night the Forest Walks are holy days to the greenleaf priesthood.The Night the Forest Walks can occur at any time during the year. It is anight when Silvanus is restless, and trees move, streams and ravines changetheir courses, and caves open and close in the forest. Forest-dwelling mon-sters are often stirred into action, and forest magic is especially strong andapt to go wild.

Many rituals of worship to the god take place in a crown stand of tall, an-cient trees on a hilltop. The god must always be worshiped by sacrifice—butnever by blood sacrifice. Instead, something made from material taken fromd wood must be ceremonially broken and burled—not burned. For example,a cart, wagon, or chair fashioned from the wood of felled trees could becomea sacrifice to Silvanus.

The simplest prayer to Silvanus is the Call of Oak, Ash, and Thorn,wherein a priest gathers leaves of the three named sorts of trees, floats themon water, and entreats Silvanus to hear a prayer. For deeper concerns (a con-versation with a servant of the god, or the receipt of godly favors or magicalpowers) a Vigil is often employed: The worshiper anoints his or her ownbody with a powder of crushed acorns and mistletoe leaves mixed with rain-water or spring water and lies down on, or in contact with, a growing tree formost of a night. Some part of the bare flesh of the faithful must touch green,growing moss, so moss-covered giant trees are most favored for use in Vigils.

The two most powerful and holy rituals of Silvanites are the Song of theTrees and the Dryad Dance. The first ceremony is a droning, haunting chantthat is repetitive, leaps from sharp to flat in pitch, and increases in power themore worshipers are participating. Its performance always draws woodlandcreatures to gather in silent witness, laying aside their usual fears and theirinstincts to prey upon each other. The Song of the Trees heals burned, dis-

Silvanite Spells

4th LevelBriartangle (Alteration)Sphere: PlantRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 10-foot radius+10 feet/2 levelsSaving Throw: ½

eased, and scarred trees—and even, in rare moments of the favor of Sil-vanus, reerects trees that have fallen or been felled.

The Dryad Dance is a wild ritual of piping, dancing, and carousing thatcalls out any dryads or hamadryads from the woods around and empowersthem to travel far from their trees for a lunar cycle (month) after the dance isperformed (though they cannot use their charm ability when more than 360yards from the tree). Dryads and their trees are healed and revitalized by thedance, and it is rumored that humans and dryads who tryst at this time causethe rapid spread of new oak trees and the birth of new dryads linked to them.

Sadly, it seems the most often performed ceremony in the Silvanite canonis the Thorncall, a ritual magic that raises thick walls of deadly tearing thornsout of the forest soil. These barriers are permanent and as labyrinthine as thepresiding priest desires, but they can only be called up when a servant of Sil-vanus (a worshiper or a servitor creature, such as a stag) has been slain or shedmuch blood in the vicinity. The Thorncall ritual is used to keep out thosewho would burn or despoil the forest in such a way as to upset the balance.

Major Centers of Worship: The most major center of Silvanite worshipis Old Oak Dell in the heart of the Forest of Tethir, due east of Mosstone inTethyr. Lyon’s Oak south of the River Icehilt in Impiltur, where a vast foresthas been planted all around by Silvanite clergy, is fast rising to challengeOld Oak’s supremacy. Another strong contender for supremacy is the islandof Ilighôn in the Vilhon Reach, where the Emerald Enclave has set up afaith magic zone.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Silvanus does not have any affiliatedknightly orders. It has firm connections to several orders of rangers who serveMielikki, since she in turn serves Silvanus, and its holy groves and forest poolshrines are often guarded by the seldom-seen clergy of Eldath along with thedruids and clerics of the greenleaf priesthood. The Emerald Enclave, a largeand aggressive society of druids active in the Vilhon Reach, has close ties tothe church, but its members considered a tad radical by many Silvanites else-where in Faerûn who see their actions as likely to provoke a negative back-lash against the Silvanite religion in the future. Finally, the church of Sil-vanus also has ties with the Harpers, an organization working against the riseof great powers, which tend to endanger all natural life and conditionsaround them by trying to reshape Faerûn, and so endanger the Balance.

A briartangle spell causes living shrubbery or undergrowth of any type to beinstantly changed to densely tangled briars of the thorniest sort, growing to6 feet in height and increasing in horizontal volume to a radius of 10 feetplus 10 additional feet radius for every two levels of experience of the caster(thus, a 7th-level priest would cause a briartangle of 40-foot radius).

Beings can force their way through the briartangle readily, but the briarssnag and halt missiles, thrown objects, or flying creatures within their con-fines. All creatures trapped within a briartangle when it forms—--or thosethat enter it thereafter—suffer 1d4+2 points of piercing and scratchingdamage per round {or portion thereof) that they remain moving and incontact with the spell. Beings clad in banded, scale, or plate mail have alldamage reduced to 1d3 points per round. This reduced damage also appliesto creatures made of rock or with skin of comparable hardness, but creatureswith lesser armor, such as chain, take full damage, even if a shield is carried.Beings who do not move at all after the first round take only the damagefrom the first round of contact. In all cases, a successful saving throw vs.spell results in half damage (round up).

Spellcasting requiring a somatic component is impossible within a briar-tangle. Cloth raiment and exposed cloth, paper, or vellum items must savevs. acid once per round (or portion thereof) that they are within the briar-tangle’s confines and their user or owner is moving or they are rent and torn.This means that such items must make at least one item saving throw (forthe initial round of contact). Magical items receive a +2 bonus to this sav-ing throw. A briartangle vanishes instantly if the caster so wills, but other-wise exists until the spell expires or is dispelled. When the briartangle ends,the plants it grew from (the living material components) revert to their for-mer state.

Fire destroys a briartangle in a round (regardless of the size of its area of ef-fect), but creatures within it take 2d6 points of fire damage and receive nosaving throw against this damage. The area where a briartangle was cast radi-ates a faint dweomer for 1d4+2 turns after the spell has expired, and this af-tereffect can be used to confuse creatures who are following a pass withouttrace trail by detecting that spell’s dweomer.

In addition to living plants of any type, which are transformed into thebriartangle, required material components are mistletoe, a thorn from anyplant, and a bud, petal, or leaf from a briar (wild rose).

Priestly Vestments: The ceremonial dress for both clerics and druids ofSilvanus is a suit of armor made of overlapping leaves. For clerics, the leavesare made of metal plates and the suit functions as a set of scale mail. Fordruids, the leaves are made of green-tinted leather and the suit functions asleather armor. Either set is worn with green breeches and shirt. The outfit istopped with a large helm with oak leaf-shaped wings.

In urban areas, where the clerics outnumber the druids, the standarddress has been simplified to a verdigrised-copper pin worn on the breastwhen a priest is not involved with the High Ceremonies.

Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, druids and clerics of Silvanusmay wear their ceremonial armor or switch to something less flamboyant,depending on their mission. They are usual very practical in their dress,choosing outfits to suit the situation at hand.

Many of the wilder druids take to wearing only a loose, dusty brown cloakmade of old hides adorned with feathers and carefully watered, woven-inclumps of mosses from day to day. Sometimes this body cloak is augmentedby fur leggings or high boots. This garb, worn by priestesses of the ForestFather, has given rise to tales of wild women of the woods in many placesaround the Realms.

Specialty Priests (Druids)

Oakheart (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: PlantRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One being and one oak treeSaving Throw: NoneCasting this spell creates a link between the caster or a touched being and anoak tree. The oak tree can be any distance from the spell recipient when thespell is cast and during its duration, so long as the spell recipient remains inFaerûn.

Wisdom 12, Charisma 15Wisdom, CharismaN

REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:ARMOR: At any time after this spell is cast, crushing the material component

causes the spell to activate. For the next three rounds, any damage doneto the spell recipient does not harm him or her, hut instead affects the dis-tant oak tree. The tree mystically becomes the target of all spells and thevictim struck by all attacks. If the tree is dead before the spell is cast, thespell does not work, and the caster knows this, although the spell is lost.If the tree dies of the damage done to it during the oakheart spell, thelinked being suffers a permanent loss of 3 hit points. The recipient of anoakheart spell does not regain hit points through rest until the tree is en-tirely healed because while it is injured, it receives the linked spell recip-ient’s naturally healed hit points. The spell recipient can be magicallyhealed during this time, though. A being may be linked through oakheartto only one oak tree at a time and can only have one oakheart in affect ata time.

Club, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, scimitar, sling, staffPadded, leather, or hide and wooden, bone, shell orother nonmetallic shieldAll , animal, elemental, heal ing, plant, t ime, wards,weather, sunDivination, travelersAs druidBrewing, cobbling, cooking, fishing, or weaving (taketwo); animal loreSurvival (pick type), weather sense, modern languages(pick one from: brownie, dryad, elvish, korred, nymph,pegasus, pixie, satyr, sprite, sylph, treant, unicorn)

All specialty priests of Silvanus are druids. Their abilities and restrictions,aside from changes noted above, are summarized in Appendix 1: PriestClasses and detailed in full in the Player’s Handbook.

BONUS PROFS:

MINOR SPHERES:MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:

MAJOR SPHERESS:

The material component of the spell is an oak leaf. The recipient islinked to the tree from which the leaf came. Note that a fireward spell caston the leaf at any time before it is crushed renders the distant oak immuneto fire damage until the leaf is crushed.

Smoke Ghost (Alteration)Sphere: Elemental FireRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: Creates 1 apparitionSaving Throw: SpecialA priest can use this spell to affect smoke, drawing it into a wraithlikecowled form that flies or glides, drifting up to 150 feet per round in the di-rection the caster wishes. The smoke ghost is not a living creature or sen-tient force. It cannot wear clothing, carry things, or be made to speak. It ismerely an apparition with one attack ability: It can envelop a being andsuffocate it with thick, choking smoke and ash.

A smoke ghost is a cloud of thick, billowing gray smoke approximately 9feet high by 2 feet in diameter. It is roughly man-shaped. It cannot achievea greater stable volume, and its precise form is variable in accordance withthe caster’s wishes. A smoke ghost can rise into the air 10 feet per level ofthe caster or be made to sink to the ground, flowing along the earth likesome sort of living blanket. It can seep and maneuver through cracks andcrevices precisely as the caster wills. It can shift into a globe form or wallform in one-quarter of a round (15 seconds).

The smoke ghost attacks by attempting to envelop a creature. A savingthrow vs. breath weapon must be made each round against the smoke ghostattack until the spell expires or the smoke ghost is moved to another target.If the saving throw is successful, the affected creature’s attacks are at a -1penalty, and 1 point of damage is inflicted upon the smoke ghost’s victim atthe end of the round. Affected creatures who make their saving throws areable to utter item command words, power words, or cast other spells that re-quire only a single spoken word. Doing so wracks the affected creature withuncontrollable coughing fits for the following round, making them unableto take offensive action that round (but not affecting their saving throw).

The failure of this saving throw vs. breath weapon (either in the firstround or a successive round) means the creature is enveloped. Envelopedvictims are partially blinded; all their attacks are made at a -2 penalty.They also take 1 point of damage at the end of the round. Enveloped vic-tims find spellcasting and even normal speech impossible, resulting in vlo-lent retching and coughing when these are tried. These penalties and thisrate of damage continue until the third round of envelopment.

Beginning with the third round of envelopment, a creature must makea successful saving throw vs. death magic each round or be rendered un-conscious through suffocation. Each following consecutive round of envel-opment adds another -2 penalty to the roll (for a -2 penalty on the fourthround, -4 on the fifth, and so on).

Assuming she or he is not killed through the accrual of damage (hitpoints reduced to below 0 or -10, if that optional rule is in use), an uncon-scious character eventually recovers. One-quarter (25%) of the smokedamage is actual, the rest is temporary.

The caster must be able to see the smoke ghost to direct it, and control-ling the apparition requires the caster’s full attention. The caster can castno other spells nor take any other offensive action while controlling thesmoke ghost, although the caster may voluntarily release control of it. Anundirected smoke ghost hangs motionless until the caster takes controlagain, It is dispelled, or the spell expires. A victim who was being assaultedby a smoke ghost which becomes undirected is considered to automaticallyfind himself or herself in fresh air (if such is available) on the round thatthe ghost becomes undirected. If subsequently reattacked by the smokeghost, the entire attack sequence must be restarted from its beginning. Pre-vious damage caused by the smoke ghost is assumed to linger until about aturn after the ghost finally disappears. A ghost that reaches the caster’smaximum range stops and remains in place until directed elsewhere. Thecaster can will the ghost to disappear into nothingness at any time, an ac-tion that takes the smoke ghost takes half a round (30 seconds).

It can be destroyed by a gust of wind, dispel magic, or strong naturalwinds. Any magics that affect vapors also affect it. It is not affected byweapons.

The caster creates the smoke ghost by means of a pinch of dust and somemistletoe that are cast into an existing fire or cloud of smoke of magical ornatural origin.

Thorn Spray (Alteration)Sphere: PlantRange: 10 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 roundCasting Time: 3Area of Effect: 4 thornlike objects/levelSaving Throw: NoneBy means of this spell, a priest can cause barbs, spikes, thorns, spines, or non-metallic darts, either naturally growing or magically created (in other words,by use of a spike growth, wall of thorns, or briartangle spell), to spring withenough force to serve as missiles from his or her hand or from hushes or rest-ing places within 10 yards of himself or herself. The thorns fly up to 120yards within the round of casting and strike as many targets as the priestwishes within the limits of the number of thorns able to be animated. Thepriest may direct the thorns in any combination at any living or nonliving (ascroll, lantern, or wineskin) targets that she or he can see. The priest can an-imate a maximum of four thorns per experience level.

The thorns strike only if a successful attack roll is made for each target.The attack roll is made as though the thorns were directly wielded by thepriest and at a +4 attack bonus in addition to any other applicable bonusesthe priest might have; no range penalties apply. The thorns inflict 1 point ofdamage each. Sleep-venomed wooden darts are sometimes carried by priest(especially druids) who use this spell often.

The missiles of a thorn spray twist and turn in flight to follow moving tar-gets and avoid obstructions, and are fast enough to catch most buds on thewing. Thornspray works underwater, but the priest has only normal attackrolls, and the range is reduced to 90 yards.

The material components for this spell are magical or natural barbs,spikes, thorns, spines, or nonmetallic darts that the priest animates.

5th LevelFireward (Abjuration)Sphere: Elemental FireRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: Sphere of 1 foot in diameter/levelSaving Throw: NoneThis spell temporarily renders a spherical area fireproof, instantly extin-guishing all fires and preventing the ignition of future conflagrations for thespell’s duration. Despite its name, this magic does not ward away flames, butrather drinks them in, destroying them. The sphere is centered on the casterbut is stationary once created. The caster can move about, engage in otherspellcasting activities, slumber, or even leave and reenter the sphere repeat-edly without affecting it in any way.

Fireward is effective against red dragon breath, fire elementals (who can-not enter or be summoned into the sphere), natural fires of all sizes (includ-ing forest fires), and fiery magic. It prevents heat and vapor transfer betweenits protected area and the surroundings so that smoke cannot enter a fire-ward, a conflagration cannot roast its occupants, nor can a fire suck all theoxygen out of the ward to feed its own roaring flames.

The material components of this spell are a pinch of sand and a drop ofwater.

Mulch (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Plant, NecromanticRange: 5 feet/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 roundCastmg Time: 5Area of Effect: 10 cubic feet/level (90 cubic feet minimum)Saving Throw: SpecialThis spell must be used with extreme care by priests of Silvanus for its recklessuse could undo much of the growth and revitalization of sylvan lands thattheir god stands for. It causes wood (such as a tree, shrub, door, or cottagewall) or once-hying organic material (such as leather straps or rope) to rotaway instantly. Carefully applied, this can make plate mall fall off a foe, free abound captive, and so on. When used with less care, it can destroy clothingin a trace, cause weapons to fall off friendly warriors in all directions, and dev-astate gardens or stands of trees. The spell must affect a minimum of 90 cubicfeet if the caster’s level so allows; the spell’s area of effect above this is in-creased at the caster’s discretion, but limited by this or her experience level.

This spell instantly kills yellow musk creepers, violet fungi, and variousharmful molds, but intelligent plant life receives a saving throw vs. spell at+5 to avoid death. Plant beings (such as shambling mounds and vegepyg-mies) successfully saving against a mulch spell suffer 5d4 points of damageinstead.

Nonvegetable intelligent beings are affected by this spell in a curiousway: Its touch causes much internal moisture to retreat from the skin andfat layers of the body to deeper body cavities for a short period. This does nodamage and has no adverse effects save to cause an affected being’s voice togrow rough and quavery and to cause the being’s skin to become very wrin-kled (because it hangs more loosely). This effect of the spell would tem-porarily ruin a good singing voice, and for 1d4+1 rounds, it tends to causeaffected beings to appear very old. This side-effect of the spell has been usedby priests to aid in disguise attempts, fake devastating diseases, or simulatemagical aging.

7th LevelDeath Chariot (Evocation, Conjuration/Summoning)Sphere: Elemental FireRange: 10 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 1 turnArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialWhen this spell is cast, a clap of thunder sounds and a billowing cloud ofsmoke erupts from around the caster or at a spot within 10 yards of him orher. Within this cloud appears a flaming chariot pulled by two fiery horses.The chariot moves at MV 24, Fl 48 (D) and can carry up to nine man-sizedcreatures. The caster need not be among them. The chariot feels uncom-fortably hot to approach, and merely touching one of the horses inflicts 3d8points of fire damage, but boarding or touching the chariot does no damage.Anyone in the chariot may control its path by verbal command, causingthe flaming steeds to stop or go, walk, trot, run, or fly, turn left or right, orrise or descend.

The vehicle and steeds can be harmed by water or by magical weapons.(One quart of water causes 1 point of damage.) The steeds and chariot areAC 2 and can be dispelled by inflicting 30 points of damage upon each ofthem. The steeds and chariot can he forcibly returned to the ElementalPlane of Fire by the use of such spells as dispel magic and holy word. Fire andelectricity harm neither the chariot nor the steeds, but cold-, ice-, andwater-based magic cause them double damage. Attempts to charm, sleep, orhold the fiery steeds are always unsuccessful. Bringing an alchemy jug or a de-canter of endless water into the death chariot causes the chariot to explode im-mediately for the effects given below.

A death chariot closely resembles a chariot of Sustarre, save that its en-chantments are less stable and more temporary. The caster may set the spellto work one of two ways: Either the death chariot is preset to explode at anytime from one round to the end of one turn after the spell is cast, or thecaster may retain detonation control of the chariot by accompanying it inperson. This control does not preclude the caster from taking other actionsor casting spells and does not mean that the caster has to verbally “steer”the death chariot himself or herself. Note that a priest could well deceiveothers into thinking the death chariot is a chariot of Sustarre by touching pas-sengers before they enter the death chariot and accompanying them

If the death chariot is preset to detonate, then at the designated momentit suddenly explodes in a gigantic ball of fire and vanishes along with itssteeds. All in the chariot or within 30 feet take 10d4 points of fire damage.(A successful saving throw vs. spell halves damage.) Passengers suffer a fur-ther 2 points of blast shock as oxygen is consumed in the blast, and airrushes back in to fill the void caused by it. If the chariot vanishes in midair,they also take falling damage unless magical items or spells afford escape.

Readily combustible materials such as cloth, wood, paper, and oil areconsumed in the blast; flaming oil damage should be added to the damagetotal for any chariot passenger carrying oil on their person. All other items—including scrolls and spellbooks—gain an item saving throw vs. magical fireto survive the blast. If items suffer a fall from a midair death chariot blast, theymust also make successful item saving throws vs. fall or be destroyed.

If the casting priest accompanies the chariot, she or he causes the deathchariot to explode by act of will, not verbal command. The caster could ballout before igniting the trap, ride the death chariot in safety for a short trip(for example, across a chasm or down from a cliff, tower, battlement, etc.)and then leave it as a fiery trap, or even send the death chariot back at a pur-suing enemy before causing it to explode. The maximum duration of a death

chariot if it is not detonated is one round per level of the caster. If kept forits maximum duration, the death chariot fades away harmlessly.

The material components of the spell are a small piece of wood, bark, ora handful of wood shavings, two holly berries, and a fire source at leastequal to a torch.

Sune

LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CNSune (SUE-nee) Firehair is said to be the fairest ofthe powers. When she is represented, she is shownas the most beautiful woman in the Realms, withsweeping, radiant, red hair and incredible charms.The Sunite faith is a popular one in large metropoli-tan areas and among the nobility. Those of a literaryor artistic bent, as well as people falling in love orl o o k i n g f o r l i f e m a t e s , o f t e n v e n e r a t e t h e

WOR. ALIGN.:

(Firehair, Lady Firehair, the Lady of Love,the Princess of Passion)Greater Power of Arborea, CGPORTFOLIO: Beauty, love, passionALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Olympus/BrightwaterSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Lliira, Selûne, Sharess, Milil, LathanderFOES: Talos, Auril, Umberlee, Malar, Talona, TempusSYMBOL: The face of a beautiful, ivory-skinned human maiden

with long, red tresses

Lady Firehair.Sune herself is said to be benevolent and sometimes whimsical, alternat-

ing between deep passions and shallow flirtations. She has been romanti-cally linked with many of the Faerûnian powers in the myths of the Realms,although she has never borne any love at all for the gods of fury, Talona, orTempus, since their functions posit the destruction of many beautiful things,both living and inanimate. Currently, she is rumored to have been rathersmitten by the noble actions of Torm at Tantras during the Time of Troubles.

Sune is said to share the waters of the Evergold, a sacred pool, with theelven goddess Hanali Celanil, and a friendly but intense rivalry exists be-tween the two over the innate superiority of elven versus human beauty.Sune abhors and actively opposes any force or deity that causes the marringof living beauty.

Sune�s Avatar (Mage 35, Cleric 30)Sune appears rarely to mortals. When she is seen, it is as a human female ofunearthly beauty clad only in a diaphanous silken gown and her impossiblylong, sweeping red hair, which often assumes the appearance of flames.While she always has red hair, her appearance changes from time to time.Sometimes her skin is golden and her eyes almond-shaped, at others she hasskin of mahogany and eyes the color of darkest amber or honey, at stillothers she has reddish skin and prominent cheekbones, and at yet others herskin is ivory white and her eyes a sky blue or forest green. She can draw herspells from any school or sphere. All charm - type magic, charm sphere spells,and enchantment/charm spells that affect emotions, beguile, enthrall, com-mand, persuade, or have similar effects to a charm person to any being cast byher are at quadruple strength and a -4 penalty to saving throws (providedthe penalty is not already greater and saving throws are allowed).

AC -4; MV 15, Fl 24; HP 171; THAC0 2, #AT 1Dmg 1d10+1 (+1 STR)MR 85%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 16, DEX 21, CON 20, INT 19, WIS 18, CHA 25Spells P: 11/11/10/10/9/9/8, W: 8/8/8/8/8/8/8/7/7Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: The sight of Sune’s unclad form can slay if she so de-sires (saving throw vs. death magic at -4 or die). Sune can cause rapture inall beings within 90 feet of her who are able to see her (as the rapture below,only of double duration and having stun effects only on all those she wantsit to unless such potentially stunned victims make a successful saving throwvs. paralyzation at -6). It is almost impossible not to look at Sune once evena glimpse of her is caught. No mortal can resist getting a good look at suchsupreme beauty. No animal orgiant animal analog will even attempt toharm Sune. No male being of any sort can lift a hand or thought to harm heronce he sees her; it is simply impossible.

Other ManifestationsA common manifestation of Sune’s presence or favor is a gentle, phantomcaress or kiss, usually accompanied by a soft crooning that only the goddessand those truly loyal to her can emit. This sound is performed endlessly inmost temples of the goddess and is familiar to all faithful worshipers of theLady of Love. Alternatively, Sune can manifest as an unseen surge of ex-citement in the air that makes all beings in a locale happier, more ener-getic, and forcibly attuned to the sensual—that is, made acutely aware ofthe smells, tastes, and feel of their surroundings. Sune also shows her favorthrough the appearance or presence of fire doves, flame poppies, rubies,roses or rose petals (especially deep red ones), chestnut horses, satyrs,sylphs, nymphs, and dryads.

An Individual (especially a member of Sune’s clergy) enjoying Sune’sspecial favor at the moment, or who has been charged with a task or therole of Sune’s champion, often glows with a red, pink, and white scintillat-ing aura signifying the favor of the goddess. When such an aura fades away,it bestows the effects of a heal spell on its wearer. This aura is the gift of thegoddess; to ask her for it would anger her and outrage any Sunite clergywho heard of the request.

Those priests who have earned a great boon from Sune by completingsome great task in her name may be gifted with a draft of Evergold thatraises the Charisma of the priest who consumes it by 2d4 points for oneday and acts as a philter of love upon anyone who sees the drinker for oneturn after the draft is quaffed. Only priests of Sune may benefit from thisdraft—to all others it is poison. Charisma may reach godly levels in thisfashion. Charming effects wear off and followers and henchmen gained athigh Charisma drift away after the draft wears off at the end of the day, butinitial reactions and any enamoring effects remain.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, mysticsCLERGY�S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CNTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mys: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and mystics of Sune receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Comely male and female humans, elves, and half-elves serve the Ladyof Love. Female clergy outnumber male clergy eight to one, hut the menare all the more highly valued for their relative rarity. All clergy must pos-sess an alluring or pleasing manner in addition to natural beauty, for highCharisma is essential for Sunite clergy. Ugly, physically imperfect, ormarred beings are disparaged or pitied by devout Sunites, and an acquiredimperfection that cannot be masked or healed by spells or other means ofshapeshifting spells the end of a Sunite priest’s career. Other faiths tend toregard Sunites as flighty, vain, and rather superficial, but basically harm-less. Sunites have an intense rivalry with the followers of the elven god-dess Hanali Celanil.

The Sunite church’s organization is loose and informal, and its leader-ship changes regularly with the whims of its clergy. The most charismaticSunite clergy are usually the high priests and priestesses. Little is thoughtof a priest dropping everything and going bounding off into the wild, par-ticularly if the goal is some beautiful object or some beautiful individual,and such behavior creates little scandal in the church.

Sunite temples are either stunningly beautiful edifices of fantastic de-sign or classically elegant structures strategically enhanced by sculpturedlandscaping. Many Sunite temples sport formal gardens with gorgeousflower beds, trellises and bowers of well-trained vines, and carefully prunedtrees and topiaries. Fine sculptures and sumptuous fountains that play withsoft, magical lighting provide focal points in most Sunite temple gardens.

Dogma: Beauty is more than skin deep, say the Sunites; it issues fromthe core of one’s being and shows one’s fair (or foul) face to the world. Thefollowers of Sune are believers in romance, true love winning over all, andfollowing one’s heart to one’s true destination. Fated matches, impossibleloves, and ugly ducklings becoming swans are all part of the teaching ofSune.

Novice Sunites receive the following charge: “Love none more thanyourself save Sune, and lose yourself in love of the Lady Firehair. Performa loving act every day, and seek to awaken love in someone new each day.Respond to love at least once in a day.

“Encourage beauty wherever you find it. Acquire beautiful items of allsorts, and encourage, sponsor, and protect the artists who produce suchthings whenever and wherever you find them.

“Keep your own body as comely as possible andas attractively displayed assituations warrant. Let hairstyle and clothing best suit your personal appear-

ance, striving to stir and delight others who look upon you. Moreover, hidenot away, but always seek to present yourself to those around you in a pleas-ing variety of garbs and activities so as to move them with love and desire.

“Love those that respond to your beauty and all beauty, and let warmfriendship and admiration flower where love cannot or dare not.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Sunites are aesthetes and hedonists, who ac-tively seek out pleasure and beauty in all things. The pursuit of aestheticenjoyment is their life.

Sunite clergy buy beautiful items of art, sculpture, and handiwork when-ever they find it, sponsoring good artists where necessary and overpayingfor such items so as to drive prices up, create more demand, and so increasethe supply of things of beauty. This is to be done as often as funds afford andsubtlety permits, and in disguise if need be.

Whenever Sunite clergy must perform dirty tasks, the use of disguise isencouraged to protect the body as well as to conceal identity. The devoutpriest always hires or supports adventurers and others to destroy beings whovandalize beautiful creations.

All clergy of Sune also strive to create beauty in a personal way, prefer-ably as a creator of static fine art (blown-glass ornaments, paintings, or ta-pestries are all fashionable), but as a dancer if one fails at all else. When oneof them gains expertise in crafting things of beauty, she or he is obliged topass on such learning by training others and turning away no one whoshows genuine promise. Any moneys made through such training should begiven to the church to further the growth of beauty and love everywhere.

Although Sunite clergy can rebuff unwanted advances, they shouldstrive to build friendships and romantic feelings between themselves andothers and in general wherever they go so that love may prosper every-where in the Realms. As the lonely are in most need of such things (andthe most likely to join in love of the Lady Firehair), they should he soughtout by diligent clergy for friendship. Everyone, no matter how homely ordisparate in faith from the path of the Lady, should be assisted by gifts ofclothing, hair styling, cosmetics, and lessons in deportment, dancing, andmanners to so as make themselves as beautiful as possible.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Greengrass is celebrated bySunites with a great deal of outdoor frolicking, and Midsummer Night withnight-long flirtatious chases through forests and parks, but local priesthoodscan set the tunes of other celebrations to their own pleasure, as long as atleast one Grand Revel befalls each month and at least one Feast of Love iscelebrated in every tenday.

A Grand Revel is a dusk-to-dawn party to which outsiders are invited,dancing and minstrelsy dominate, and those of the faith seek to attract con-verts with fun and the exhibition of a few of a temple’s or shrine’s beautifulart objects or magical treasures. A Feast of Love is a more intimate, quiet af-fair, open only to the faithful, who lie on couches and indulge in the gentlesipping of liqueurs and nibbling at subtly flavored bitelets (as savory horsd’oeuvres are called in the Realms) and sweet pastries while lone dancersperform. These dances are interspersed with readings of romantic verse andprose and lays of love sung by skilled minstrels. Such rituals always break upinto private gatherings, though bards are always on hand to relate tales ofcourtly love or mysteries of Faerûn for those who do not feel like socializingmore privately.

Sunites also offer personal prayers to Sune, always while dressed inbeautiful ritual garments, standing in a pool or bath, and looking into amirror lit only by natural light or candles. Those seeking guidance in life,entry into the faith, or atonement indulge in a night-long Candle Vigil.Sune sends guidance to them by visions visible in the mirror-often by al-tering the reflection of the worshiper in some way.

Major Centers of Worship: One Sunite holy house has recently out-stripped the beautiful House of Firehair in Daerlun and the sacred parks inEverlund and Neverwinter to become preeminent in the worship of Sune:the Temple of Beauty in Waterdeep. This rich and important sacred site is arecently rebuilt house of graceful grandeur whose slender towers taper withexquisite smoothness as they reach up into the sky. Around these towerssoft-hued driftglobes float, and their wandering light also illuminates the in-terior chambers of the temple. The temple is said to house chambers ofgreat luxury where beautiful people gather from far across Faerûn. It servesas a safe neutral ground for Waterdhavian nobles of hostile houses to meetand pursue romance together. The Temple of Beauty is also a favorite desti-nation for tourists of all faiths, but non-Sunites must make handsome andexpensive offerings to the goddess to be allowed entry.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Sune sponsors an endless slew of hon-orary orders that seem to change with every new priestess or priest to rise tothe head of a local temple. These titular orders convey honors for excel-lence in various artistic pursuits.

The church also has a small affiliated knightly order of fighters, paladins,and bards who serve to guard temples and holy sites along with the clergyand who sometimes pursue quests or do good works in Sune’s name to pro-mote her faith. (The gallant kit from The Complete Bard’s Handbook is espe-cially appropriate for these bards if the DM wishes to allow it.) To becomeone of the Sisters and Brothers of the Ruby Rose, a candidate stands vigil ina church of Sune all night. If the Lady Firehair appears to the candidate ina vision during the night or somehow shows her favor, the candidate is ad-mitted to the order. Members in this order are given to writing essays andsongs of courtly love when not engaged in vital business, and often adopt abeautiful individual to adore from afar whether that individual would beflattered by such attentions or not.

Priestly Vestments: Sunites are not bashful about their bodies. Thestandard ceremonial garb of Sunite priests is monastic robes for men andhabits for women, both cut to show off the figure of the wearer and dyed adeep crimson. Hair is normally worn long and allowed to fall free during rit-uals. At other times, priestesses wear attractive wimples with v-shapedcrown pieces, and priests bind their tresses back with crimson scarves.While red hair is considered touched by the goddess, all shades of hair andskin are welcome, provided they are unmarred and lovely.

Aside from her face, other, less-common symbols of Sune ate a winkingeye (often seen as an animated illusion on the doors of Sunire temples) or apair of golden parted female lips with the tip of a vivid ruby-red tongue justvisible between them, slyly touching the upper lip.

Adventuring Garb: At light-hearted social functions, members of theclergy often wear the lips of the goddess painted on a shoulder or theirmidriffs. At such times, they don garments cut away to display the badge ofthe goddess. When fighting or adventuring, clerics of Sune prefer as muchprotection (magical and otherwise) as they can afford. It is not that they arecowards, but they want desperately to avoid scars or even the need for mag-ical healing. Sunite clergy often wear oversized, ornate, heavily padded fullbody armor (such as plate mail or plate armor, or even scale mail or chainmail with full coifs, helmets, and shields) designed to afford the body max-imum protection against visible marring. Often such armor is fluted, pol-ished mirror-bright, or otherwise adorned so as to be as pleasing to the eyeas possible.as possible.

Specialty Priests (Heartwarders)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 12, Charisma 16PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, CharismaA L I G N M E N T : C GWEAPONS: All bludgeoning weapons (wholly Type B) and dartsARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERE: All, astral, charm, creation, divination, guardian, heal-

ing, protection, sun, time, thoughtMINOR SPHERES: Combat, elemental, necromantic, summoningMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: Artistic ability, singing, or dancing (pick one)BONUS PROFS: Etiquette

Sunite Spells2nd Level

Love Bite (Alteration)Sphere: CombatRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell delivers a kiss made by the caster on the empty air unerringly to achosen creature who is visible and within range. The kiss can be a simplesignal (the brush of phantom lips), an actual bite that does 1 point of dam-age (but cannot target a specifically vulnerable spot), or the means of unerr-ingly delivering another single harmful or beneficial spell cast within thethree rounds immediately preceding the casting of love bite that requires atouch to deliver.

3rd LevelRapture (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: CharmRange: 1 yard/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: 1 creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell confers a state of bliss upon its recipient, temporarily raising his orher morale to 20 and banishing all feelings of pain, nausea, or weariness,though it actually heals and changes nothing except the recipient’s state ofmind (and thus spell effects based on sudden negative sensory perceptions,such as the incapacitation caused by a stinking cloud). So far as any injuriespermit, the recipient acts happy, refreshed, rested, high-spirited, and unhurt.While the recipient is enraptured, lures designed to prey upon his or her li-bido are ignored (such as the song of sirens). Enraptured recipients are notaffected by hypnosis or any attempts (magical or psionic) to control or influ-ence their minds (for example, charm person spells).

The enraptured state can be a mixed blessing. Whenever a being is af-fected by a rapture spell, it must succeed at a saving throw vs. paralyzation orbe so strongly affected as to be stunned for the spell duration. Stunned be-ings tremble, drop any held items or weapons, and can take no voluntary ordeliberate actions until the spell wears off. Rapture affects only intelligentmammals. Priests of Sune may cast rapture on themselves; they receive a +4bonus to their saving throws to avoid being stunned.

4th LevelVeil of Djalice (Illusion/Phantasm)Sphere: CharmRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 6 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneNamed for the famous long-ago priestess who devised it, this spell is some-times called the “glamour glamer” because it temporarily augments thebeauty of the caster or a touched being to unearthly levels. The spell also af-fects the recipient’s voice and grace, boosting effective Charisma to 20 in allsituations involving personal allure. Beings of the same race and oppositegender of the spell recipient who are not deaf and blind are helplessly smit-ten by the affected being and eagerly leap to serve his or her smallest whim.

• Elves and half-elves may become heartwarders, though they invite thewrath of Hanali Celanil, the goddess of elven beauty.

• Heartwarders may attempt to charm (as the 1st-level wizard spell charmperson) individuals of the same race and opposite sex. Heartwarders mayattempt this charm once per day, but if it fails (victims are allowed a sav-ing throw vs. spell) they cannot use this ability again until they havemade proper offerings and meditations at an established shrine ortemple. The victim has a -1 penalty to the saving throw for every pointof Charisma the heartwarder has above 16 (-1 at 17, -2 at 18).

• At 3rd level, heartwarders are able to cast love bite (as the 2nd-levelpriest spell) once a day.

• At 5th level, heartwarders are able to cast rapture (as the 3rd-level priestspell) or charm person (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 7th level, heartwarders are able to cast flame strike (as the 5th-levelpriest spell) once a day.

• At 9th level, heartwarders gain a permanent +1 to their Charisma.• At 9th level, heartwarders are able to cast emotion (as the 4th-level wiz-

ard spell) once a day.• At 12th level, heartwarders may arouse feelings of love (as the enamor-

ing effects of a philter of love) in any intelligent being and cast masscharm (as the 8th-level wizard spell) once a tenday.

• Should the Charisma ability score of heartwarder drop below 16, thenshe or he is cast out of the faith until the loss in ability score is recov-ered. The prejudice within the church hierarchy against those who aremarred or plain is very strong.

6th LevelMerge with Nature (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Charm, Necromantic, PlantRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Tune: 1 hourArea of Effect: CasterSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell allows a female priest of Sune to avoid old age and death bytransforming into a dryad, a being with a life expectancy and strength ofconstitution and health far beyond mortal range. This spell is used only by

high-ranking and somewhat desperate priestesses of Sune, who use it to re-tain a certain youth and charm and to avoid the shame of being cast out ofthe clergy when they can no longer hold off the ravages of age. The use ofthis spell has fallen out of favor in the church, but knowledge of the prayeris retained in the Sunite liturgy.

Upon casting this spell, the caster links herself with a tree and uniteswith it so that she actually becomes a dryad (as in the MONSTROUS

MANUAL tome), losing her spellcasting and other class abilities in theprocess, but getting all a dryad�s powers in their stead. As this spell is notreversible, it is used rarely and only by individuals willing to leave thisworld and relinquish their positions to a new generation. At the end of theceremony, the caster must pass a system shock roll or die.

Successful use of this spell requires a tree willing to accept the dryad-to-be (which can be learned by a speak with plants spell), the presence of twowilling assistants of the Sunite church (preferably clergy), and the caster�sholy symbol. The system shock roll that marks the conclusion of the spellis penalized by -10% for every component of the spell ritual that is missing(for instance, -10% for not finding a willing tree, -10% for only one assis-tant, etc.).

Talona(Lady of Poison, Mistress of Disease,She of the Deadly Kiss, Mother of All Plagues)Lesser Power of Carceri, CE

Disease, poisonKiputyttoCathrys/Palace of Poison TearsNone (formerly Bhaal)Bane (now dead), Bhaal, SharChauntea, Loviatar, Mielikki, Silvanus, Sune, Lliira,Kelemvor, Tyr, ShialliaThree golden amber teardrops on a purple equilateraltriangle with point upwardLN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE

PORTFOLIO:ALIASES:DOMAIN NAME:SUPERIOR:ALLIES:FOES:

SYMBOL:

WOR. ALIGN.:Talona (Tah-LOW-nah), one of the Dark Gods, isoften depicted as a withered old crone with ascarred, tattooed face in religious texts. Where shewalks, misfortune and death follow. She is an odddeity. Sages have described her as having the person-ality of a petulant, greedy child trapped in the bodyof a once-beautiful woman now scarred by horrificdisease and ravaged by age: She is alternately de-

sirous of attention at any cost like a small child and aloof like a woundedparamour who has been discarded by her love.

Talona�s power slowly wanes after each great plague in Faerûn. Whenshe feels vulnerable in her position, she unleashes another wave of miseryand disease-brought death and receives a torrent of prayers entreating herto spare the inhabitants of Faerûn from her withering touch. Her powerthen waxes again in an endless cycle of indifference, devastation, and ap-peasement. In particular, Talona�s power was ascendant during the destruc-tion of Asram (after the erection of the Standing Stone), in the Year of theClinging Death (75 DR), during the Rotting War (902 DR), in the Year ofthe Scourge (1150 DR), in the Year of the Empty Goblet and the Year ofBeckoning Death (1252-1253 DR), and during the Great Plague of theInner Sea (1317-1323 DR).

Some old texts of Talona refer to her as Kiputytto, but this is actuallythe name of a rival demipower who challenged Talona�s portfolio and lost.The battle between the two goddesses destroyed the Netherese survivorstate of Asram in its wake. When Kiputytto attacked Talona, Talonaplagued the ill-fated Asram in order to obtain the devotional power gener-ated from the worship of its citizens, who hoped to appease Talona andlessen the effects of the disease. Kiputytto responded in kind in the samelocation, provoking a devastating series of increasingly virulent plagues(perhaps even magical in nature) that overloaded the curative resources ofAsram�s various priesthoods and wiped out the entire population in lessthan a month. Even most of those who escaped the scourged area diedsoon after of disease. Shortly afterward, Talona won this devastating deificcontest and murdered Kiputytto.

Representations of Talona�s symbol dated to before her battle withKiputytto show it depicted as a flesh-colored equilateral triangle withpoint upward containing three teardrops arranged in a triangle with theuppermost black, the lower left purple, and the lower right green. Why the

coloration was changed after her triumph over Kiputytto is one of theinner mysteries of the church not ever revealed to outsiders.

While he lived, Talona served Bhaal along with Loviatar, though Lovi-atar and Talona and are fierce rivals. Loviatar loves to torment and teaseTalona over her ugly appearance, her scanty number of followers, her cow-ardly and ineffectual attacks, and her puny portfolio (in Loviatar�s words).Needless to say, Talona openly delights in any setbacks Loviatar experi-ences, and sometimes even aids good adventurers if she thinks they willdamage Loviatar�s reputation. Talona has recently cultivated an alliancewith Shar.

Talona's Avatar (Mystic 28, Mage 26, Thief 20)

Talona appears as a tall, gaunt human female with long, unkempt hair andelongated, reaching fingers. She looks like a formerly voluptuous womanwhose frame and charms have been wracked by hard years, horrific disease,and starvation. The Lady of Poison can cast spells from any school orsphere, but prefers spells that attack the body internally, most of which aretypically from the school of necromancy and the necromantic and healingspheres. (If the optional wizard classes presented in PLAYER�S OPTION: Skills& Powers are employed, Talona should be treated as a 26th-level specialistin the school of alchemy in addition to being a standard mage, with all thecorresponding powers of a specialist in that school and access to all thespells of the school of alchemy.)

Talona usually appears at festivals when her followers need her most,but she has no taste for violence. If someone attacks her clergy memberswhile she is present, she empowers a few of them with her touch, bestowsfull spells to all of her worshipers who can use them, and disappears, leav-ing them to fend for themselves. (During all of this, she ignores attackers,letting her full harmful powers work on any of them foolish enough tostrike her.)

AC -2; MV 15; HP 184; THAC0 2; #AT 1Dmg 1d10+1 (+1 STR)MR 70%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 17, DEX 22, CON 24, INT 20, WIS 21, CHA 14Spells P: 12/12/12/11/10/9/6, W: 6/6/6/6/6/5/5/5/5Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Talona�s dancing movements are said to be alluring,and her lips welcoming and gentle�but unless she wills it otherwise, any-thing nonmagical that touches her rots away, from monsters� claws tobroad swords, collapsing and crumbling away within three rounds of initialcontact. Unless a weapon or armor is used to make contact (whereupon itis destroyed unless it is an artifact), living creatures lose the limb theytouched Talona with and suffer 1d12+10 points of damage. They must alsomake a successful saving throw vs. poison or they contract a wasting dis-ease that inflicts 2d8 points of damage a turn later and then 1d12 points ofdamage at the end of every turn thereafter until the disease is removed bycure disease, remove curse, heal, limited wish, or more powerful magics or theydie. Damage lost due to this disease is not curable by any means until thedisease is disposed of.

Talona�s touch can heal a creature of all hurts including restoring lostlimbs, removing lycanthropy, and breaking geas spells or curses, but sheprefers to kiss and embrace her clergy members and so send fatal diseasesraging through their bodies. She then forces an antidote from her salivathrough their veins by another kiss when they are on the brink of death.This causes initial burning pain followed by a rapturous ecstasy and is anexperience of which most Talontar dream, particularly if they have felt itbefore. (When priestly writings enthuse with wild joy over Talona�s Touch,this is what they are referring to.) This purging cleanses the body of allweaknesses and imperfections, and for a tenday after experiencing Talona�sTouch, a Talontar automatically succeeds at all ability checks, receives a+4 bonus to attack rolls, does maximum possible damage with all physicalattacks, and casts all spells for maximum possible duration, area of effect,potency, and damage.

Other ManifestationsTalona may manifest as a flickering brown-and-yellow radiance above aplace of disease or death (such as a battlefield). Her shape and movementsresemble a dancing flame able to teleport itself for short distances. She isunable to speak in this form, but may write by burning letters in wood orother organic substances or scribing them in sand, ashes, dust, or otherloose material. In this form, she can by touch bestow spells, enact herTouch (see above), and communicate mind-to-mind employing mental vi-sions with any creature. (In practice, only Talontar are favored by such

communications). She also sends chasme (tanar’ri), gulguthras (otyughs,neo-otyughs, and gulguthydras), imps and quasits, ironmaws, rats (pack ofgiant and normal-sized rodents), sewerms, shadowdrakes, spiders (gargan-tuan, hairy, and watch), terlens, and vorrs to inflict her wrath, show herapproval, or aid her faithful. Her presence is sometimes indicated by thesudden appearance and rapid growth of a black lily or a poisonous herb orfungus. The talontar believe the discovery of a solitary piece of amber orjasper indicates the Lady of Poison’s favor, but if such a gem shatters whentouched, the victim will soon die of disease (if amber is found) or poison(if jasper is happened upon).

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, mysticsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No, Mys; NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and mystics of Talona receive rel igion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Talona, like most chaotic evil gods, is more feared than worshiped andis propitiated to avoid her attentions, not to draw them. The church ofTalona operates underground, as can be expected of a faith that promotesdeath and disease. It IS strongest in those regions where plagues are ram-pant, and the faithful of Talona are often accused of creating such situa-tions. Many wererats pray to the Lady of Disease for additional weapons ofdisease to use against the hated humans.

Those who actively worship Talona tend to gather in secret in the cat-acombs beneath cities or in wilderness ruins. Underground temples areoften built above reeking, overflowing sewers or in humid grottoes over-grown with fungi and mold. Wilderness shrines are typically located instagnant swamps and marshes rife with disease-laden mosquitoes and richwith the sickly sweet scent of decay. Twisted gargoyles carved to resemblemortals wracked with various diseases or poisons are positioned promi-nently throughout such structures.

The Lady of Poisons attracts the cruel to her service; her priests tend tobe self-sufficient, capable—and sadistic. Priests of Talona are known asTalontar, and members of the faith as a whole (laity and clergy) are calledTalonites. Talontar are partial to ritual facial tattoos and scarification overtheir whole bodies. Talonite priests of 2nd level or less are considered pro-bationary initiates. Only upon reaching 3rd level are they formally in-ducted into the priesthood. Specialty priests of Talona, known as mala-gents, wield poisoned daggers and serve as the adventuring and internalpolicing arm of the faith. They make up about 45% of Talona’s clergymembers and are slowly ascending to dominance of the faith, with clerics(40%) and mystics (15%) comprising the remainder of the priesthood.Specialty priests are addressed as “Most Fatal Horror” and are sometimes—not to their faces—known as “Fatals” to other Talonites. Other priests ofthe Lady of Poisons are addressed as “Most Debilitating Holiness,” thoughsenior clergy usually call their juniors “Young Venom,” regardless of theirrelative ages.

Dogma: Talona’s ethos stresses that life and death are in balance, butthat death is the more powerful and should be paid proper homage and re-spect. Life and death are balanced only because birthing and generationare so plentiful. Death is the true power, and the lesson that waits for all. lfit falls to the followers of Talona to drive home the point with the tip of adagger, so be it.

Talona’s faithful are taught that if they respect death and the manyways the powers can deal it, that knowledge will allow them to live longer.If people think themselves invincible thanks to wealth or a swift swordarmor strong spells, the great equalizer of disease, Talona’s breath, will teachthem respect and humility.

Initiates to the faith are charged as follows: “Let pain be as pleasure tothe faithful of Talona. She works upon you from within, and in weaknessand wasting is her strength. She is forever and always with you, whomeveryou or the rest of the world believes in or serves. Let all living things learnrespect from Talona and pay homage to her in goods and in fervent wor-ship, and her dedicated priests will intercede for them so that Talona willnot claim them—this time. Go and work in Talona’s name and let yourdoings be subtle or spectacular, but make them known as the will of theMother of All Plagues.”

Day-to-Day Activities: Aside from selling poisons, antidotes, andmedicines, the Talontar travel Faerûn as quietly as possible, constantlyseeking out new diseases and afflictions and spreading rumors so as to aug-ment the reputation of Talona. What seems to motivate Talontar in theirday-to-day behavior is a quest for respect: respect that is due Talona for

her potentially devastating abilities and due them as her representativesin Faerûn. Throughout their careers, Talona’s priests work with magic andinoculations to build their personal immunities to various poisons anddiseases. Thus protected, they treat the diseased, take employment asfood tasters for paranoid rulers, wealthy merchants, and nobles, and bunthose who have died from diseases. Whenever a realm or city-state castsout or punishes any Talontar, for any reason, priests of Talona work tocause a plague in that place to exact “Talona’s price” for such insults. Ru-mors have circulated that certain unscrupulous Talontar have occasion-ally chosen wealthy folk as targets for disease so that wealth and proper-ties can be seized by the church upon the death of these wealthy own-ers—with the threat of contracting disease keeping rightful heirs andclaimants at bay.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The church of Talona observesthrice-daily prayers to the goddess (morning, highsun, and evening,though the timing of such rituals need not be precise), and daernuth (holyfestivals) every 12 days. Festivals are events open to nondevotees, wheresuch visitors are encouraged to pray and give offerings to Talona to sparethemselves or loved ones from death, disease, wasting diseases, and thelike. At such day-long celebrations, priests of Talona are always careful toshow lepers and other victims of disfiguring diseases being cured by priestlymagic before everyone and also to demonstrate their immunity to con-tracting disease by touching disease-carrying or filthy objects to the still-bloody ritual wounds of a Talontar (inflicted as during a private cicatriza-tion ceremony). A long symphony of rolling drums, deep-voiced chanting,and glaur, shawm, and zulkoon music proclaims the power and venerationof Talona throughout the day, and minor priests busily sell poisons (foreliminating vermin, of course), antidotes, and medicines throughout theday, assisted by senior clergy who diagnose conditions (usually with greataccuracy) and prescribe treatments in return for stiff fees (typically 50 or100 gp per examination).

Annually at the daernuth falling closet to Higharvestide, initiates ofthe faith are formally inducted into the priesthood. This ascension ismarked by horrifying private ceremonies involving ritual scarring and sa-cred tattoos. Exceptionally unappealing individuals (Charisma 3 or 4) whoundergo the ascension ceremony find their personal Charisma raised by theceremony due to the respect engendered in those viewing them by the factthat they survived the experience causing such scars (Charisma goes up to5). The amount of scarring is so severe for specialty priests of the faith thattheir Charisma drops to a maximum of 11 if it was higher before the cere-mony, though the same benefit for a dismally low Charisma is accrued.

Major Centers of Worship: The House of Night’s Embrace, a fortifiedtemple-palace in Tashluta ruled by Lady Doom Thalaera Indlerith, is themost prominent site of Talona’s worship. The House is defended by anarmy of black-masked guards assisted by gargoyles and golems. In its secre-tive depths the battle-tested Priestesses of the Lady’s Night make poisons,potions that spread disease by touch or introduction into beverages, andantidotes to both (which they sell at very high prices). Agents of theNight’s Embrace maintain a busy touring schedule of wealthy houses,noble country seats, and royal courts throughout Faerûn posing as purvey-ors of fine wines and perfumes, but their true calling is an open secretMany of the priestesses employed in this duty dabble in local politics (andlove lives) for their own entertainment, secure in the knowledge that fearof poisoning will keep them safe from the daggers that claim most intrud-ers into such affairs.

Affiliated Orders: Talona is not served by any military or knightly or-ders, but she is served by several secret cabals of rogues and other verminThe Plague Rats are an elite organization of thieves, assassins, and wer-erats active throughout the Western Heartlands and the North. Their se-cret base is believed to be located in the depths of the Rat Hills and tohave connections to Undermountain. It was apparently unaffected by thegreat Conflagration in the Year of the Shield (1367 DR).

The Plague-mother’s Children is a guild of thugs active throughoutChondath and the Vilhon Reach. Formerly composed of crusaders dedi-cated to the extension of the Rotting War as the ultimate test of Talona’sfavor, it has degenerated in recent years into an informal brotherhood ofwarriors and thieves who run extortion rackets throughout the region andthreaten Talona’s wrath if they are not given their monetary due. (Cru-saders are no longer included among the faithful of the Mistress of Disease.)

During the Tune of Troubles, Talona appeared to an evil human wizardnamed Aballister and bade him to found a trifold order of wizards, priests,and warriors. Castle Trinity, a castle-in-mountain’s clothing, was built intoa rocky spur on the northeastern edge of the Snowflake Mountains. Talonagave the wizard an unholy recipe, the Chaos Curse (named Tuanta Quiro

Miancy — the Most Fatal Horror), with which he could destroy the agentsof good in the region. Accessed by a dozen rocky tunnels, the strongholdwas eventually collapsed and ruined through the work of Cadderly, a priestof Deneir based in the nearby Edificant Library, and his friends. They suc-ceeded after countless battles in the Library, the Snowflake Mountains,the nearby Shilmista Forest, and in the town of Carradoon. Remnants ofthe triumvirate of Talona may yet survive in secretive fellowship.

Priestly Vestments: All priests of Talona wear gray and green robeswith ragged sleeves. These are washed but never repaired and in time be-come faded rags. Out of pride, most priests continue to wear their old,worn-out vestments until they are nearly naked. Old and high-rankingpriests tend to have ritual scars and tattoos all over their bodies, and someeven sport many body-piercings so that their torsos are studded with smallrings linked with fine chains. Female clergy and laity alike often wear ear-rings and elbow-dangles of black metal wrought in the shape of talons.

Adventuring Garb: If embarking on a possibly dangerous adventureor preparing to go into battle, Talontar favor black-and-purple armoradorned with spurs, horns, and spikes. They wear any armor in a pinch andprefer to wear as much armor as possible.

Only specialty priests of Talona carry the special ceremonial poisondaggers of the faith. They have no compunction against using them incombat. A nonbeliever caught with such an item attracts the unwantedattentions of Talona to his or her health as well as her church’s wrath.

Specialty Priests (Malagents)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 14, Constitution 14PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, ConstitutionALIGNMENT: CEWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons plus a cere-

monial dagger with poison grooves and the symbol ofTalona engraved or otherwise worked into the handle

ARMOR: A n yM AJOR SPHERESS: Astral, chaos, combat, divination, guardian, healing,

necromantic, summoningM INOR SPHERES: All, charm, protectionMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: NoneBONUS PROFS: Herbalism, ceremonial daggerl Malagents gain a +4 bonus to all saving throws vs. poison.l Malagents are immune to nonmagical diseases and receive Constitution

ability checks against acquiring magical diseases. These checks are madeat a +4 bonus. When the chance of acquiring a magical disease is ex-pressed as a percentage, that chance is halved (round down) for mala-gents.

l Malagents gain a normal saving throw against potions that would nor-mally not allow a saving throw.

l Malagents gain a +4 bonus to herbalism proficiency checks when brew-ing poisons.

l At 3rd level, malagents can identify pure poisons by smell.l At 5th level, malagents can identify poisons in drinks by taking a tiny

sip. This sip has no effect on them.l At 7th level, malagents may identify poisons in food by taking a tiny

bite. Again, this bite is too small to affect the malagent.l At 7th level, malagents are able to use a poison touch (as the 2nd-level

priest spell) or spread contagion (as the 4th-level wizard spell) once perday by touch.

l At 10th level, malagents can cast cause disease (as the reverse form of the3rd-level priest spell cure disease) once per day by touch. The debilitatingform of this disease is called the green rot and is typified by a luminous,greenish decay on exposed skin. The fatal form of this disease is the scalydeath, in which the hones weaken and the flesh peels back until themajor systems of the body fail.

l At 13th level, malagents can exhale a cloud of pestilence (as the 4th-levelpriest spell) or a stinking cloud (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) once perday.

l If a malagent has a Charisma of 12 or greater, other Talontar will insiston the use of so many tattoos or so much self-mutilation as to lower thatCharisma to less than 12 when the malagent is initiated into the faith at3rd level. This may not he voluntary on the malagent’s part, so good-looking malagents have been warned. Individuals with Charisma scoresof 3 or 4 who undergo the initiation ceremony at 3rd level find their per-sonal Charisma raised by the ceremony due to the respect for their sur-vival engendered in those viewing their scars, and their Charisma goesup to 5.

Talonite Spells2nd LevelPoison Touch (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a flickering brown radiance around the caster’s hand oranother chosen limb. Within 5 rounds of casting poison touch, the priestmust touch a chosen victim, or the magic fades and is wasted. A successfulattack roll is required to touch a victim. If such a touch is made to any partof the victim (armor or clothing may be touched, as bare flesh contact isnot required), the brown light flashesmust make a saving throw vs. spell.

once and is gone, and the victim

If the saving throw succeeds, the victim takes 1 point of damage and thecorrosive magic eats a hole in any armor or garment worn and causes a dis-figuring eruption of the skin beneath the touched area into raw welts, andthen the spell ends. This wound inflicts a temporary loss of 2 points of Cha-risma upon the victim, but the wound vanishes and the ability score pointsare regained through normal healing rest or the use of curative magic (suchas cure light wounds).

If the saving throw fails, the victim suffers 6 points of damage and is slowed(as the spell) instantly until the end of the following round. On this secondround, the victim must make another saving throw. If it succeeds, the victimsuffers 1 point of damage, is corroded as discussed above, and the spell ends. Ifthis second saving throw fails, the victim suffers 3d6 points of additional dam-age and must make a Constitution ability check and a Strength ability check.If both succeed, the spell ends without further effect If one fails, the victimfalls unconscious and takes an additional 1d8 points of damage but can beroused on the following round or later if still alive. If both checks fall, the vic-tim takes an additional 1d10 points of damage, falls into a coma instantly, andcannot be roused by any known means for 1d12+2 rounds.

Once a poison touch is delivered, the casting priest is free to take anyother desired actions.

4th LevelCloud of Pestilence (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Combat, Elemental AirRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 4 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: 40-foot-wide, 20-foot-high, 20-foot-deep cloud (shape

can be altered by narrow confines)Saving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a billowing cloud of yellowish-green vapors that resem-bles the effect of a wizard’s cloudkill spell—but unlike the vapor cloud gen-erated by that spell, a cloud of pestilence cannot be moved by any knownmeans (though dispel magic causes it to fade into nothingness); it sits mo-tionless until the spell expires. The caster is unaffected by his or her owncloud of pestilence, as is any creature wearing or bearing a consecrated holysymbol of Talona. All other creatures caught in or entering the acrid, foul-smelling vapor cloud must make a saving throw vs. spell:

During the first round of exposure to the vapors (or during initial expo-sure in the case of those who leave and reenter the area of effect), thosewho succeed at the saving throw are unaffected. Those who fail the savingthrow take 1d4 points of damage and begin coughing violently. Spellcast-ing, normal speech, and tasks requiring Dexterity, such as opening locks,writing, and the like, are now impossible.

On the second round of exposure (or second exposure in the case ofthose who leave and reenter the area of effect), another saving throw mustbe made. If it is successful, the victim continues to cough and suffers an-other 1d4 points of damage. If the saving throw is unsuccessful, the vaporsinflict 3d4 points of damage, the victim is slowed (as the spell), the victimcontinues to cough, and the victim’s vision becomes blurred, resulting in a-2 penalty to all attack rolls, difficulty in telling friend from foe when thetwo are near each other, and an increased possibility of tripping, bumpinginto things or people, and like effects.

On the third round of exposure (or third exposure to the same cloud of pesti-lence in the case of those who leave and reenter the area of effect), another

saving throw must be rolled. If successful, the victim takes 1d4 more points ofdamage and the coughing continues. If the victim fails the saving throw, she orhe sinks into unconsciousness and takes 4d6 points of additional damage.

On the fourth round (or fourth exposure to the same cloud of pestilence),another saving throw must be rolled. If the victim succeeds at the savingthrow, the vapors inflict 1d4 points of additional damage and the victim iscaught in a coughing fit until the spell expires. If the victim fails the sav-ing throw, the vapors inflict 4d6 points of additional damage, the victimcontinues coughing and is slowed for 1d4+1 rounds after the cloud dissi-pates, and the victim contracts a lung disease that reduces his or her move-ment rate by 1, makes facial muscles twitch and tremble from time to time,and steals 1 hit point from the victim every 2 days. This hit point loss can-not be cured until the disease is cured and continues at the rate of 1 hitpoint every 2 days until death occurs or the disease is banished. The dis-ease, known as Talona’s grimace from the facial twitch it causes, is curableby magic and by the proper use of some herbal medicines, but not throughsimple rest.

Touch of the Talontar (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, SDuration: 1 turnCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: Touched beingsSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a flickering brown radiance around the caster’s handoranother chosen limb that lasts for 1 turn. While this radiance glows, thepriest can attempt to touch and affect as many victims as she or he has nor-mal attacks within that period of tune. All creatures the priest manages totouch during that time become the victims of touch of the Talontar save forthose beings the caster wills, during contact, the magic not to harm. A suc-ceasful attack roll is required to touch a victim. If such a touch is made toany part of the victim (armor or clothing may be touched, as bare flesh con-tact is not required), the brown light flashes, and the victim must make asaving throw vs. spell.

If the saving throw succeeds, the victim takes 1 point of damage; thecorrosive magic eats a hole in any armor or garment worn and causes a dis-figuring eruption of the skin beneath the touched area into raw welts; andthe spell’s effects end for that victim. This wound inflicts a temporary lossof 2 points of Charisma upon the victim, but the wound vanishes and theability score points are regained through normal healing rest or the use ofcurative magic (such as a cure light wounds).

If the saving throw fails, the victim suffers 6 points of damage and isslowed (as the spell) instantly until the end of the following round. On thissecond round, the victim must make another saving throw. If it succeeds,the victim suffers 1 point of damage, is corroded as discussed above, and thespell’s effects end for that victim. If this second saving throw fails, the vic-tim suffers 3d6 points of additional damage and must make a Constitutionability check and a Strength ability check. If bothsucceed, the spell’s effectsend for that victim. If one fails, the victim falls unconscious and takes anadditional 1d8 points of damage but can be roused on the following roundor later if still alive. If both checks fall, the victim takes an additional 1d10points of damage, falls into a coma instantly, and cannot be roused by anyknown means for 1d12+2 rounds.

Once the touch of the Talontar is cast, the casting priest is free to take anyother desired actions, including touching other victims (within the spellduration), casting other spells, or attacking with a weapon. Note that theeffects of touch of the Talontar cannot be transmitted through a weapon, butonly through the hand of the casting priest.

5th LevelTalona�s Blessing (Abjuration, Necromancy)Sphere: Protection, NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 turn/levelCasting Tune: 8

Area of Effect: One beingSav ing Throw: NoneTalona’s blessing must be delivered by flesh-to-flesh touch. This spell rendersthe touched spell recipient—who may be the caster—temporarily immuneto all poisons (including blood poisoning, venoms, and poisonous gases)and diseases (including lycanthropy and mummy rot). Talona’s blessing also

prevents the onset or spread of parasitic infestations, gangrene, and existingdiseases (such as leprosy and transformations due to plant symbiosis). It ex-pels rot grubs from the body of the spell recipient without further harm tothe spell recipient, and permanently kills musks, molds, spores, seeds, andmosses infesting or in contact with the body of the protected being.

Talos(The Destroyer] the Raging One, the Stormstar,the Storm Lord)Greater Power of Pandemonium, CEPORTFOLIO: Storms, destruction, rebellion, conflagrations, earth-

shakings, and vorticesALIASES: Bhaelros (Calimshan), Kozah (Anauroch, among the

Bedine), Malyk (the Underdark)DOMAIN NAME: Pandesmos/Towers of RuinSUPERIOR: NoneAllies: Auril, Malar, Umberlee, VelsharoonFOES: Chauntea, Lathander, Mystra, Sune, Deneir, Gond,

Helm, Mielikki, Oghma, Silvanus, Tyr, Eldath, ShialliaSYMBOL.: Three lightning bolts, each of a separate color, radiating

from a central pointWOR. ALIGN.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE

Talos (TAH-los) is the destructive force of nature.He is the god of storms, forest fires, earthquakes,tornadoes, hurricanes, and general destruction. Heattracts the destroyer, the raider, the looter, and thebrigand among his fol lowers. His actions oftenseem petty and vengeful and are frequently moti-vated by rage, anger, and the desire to not appear

weak or compromising in any way to his followers or the other powers ofFaerûn. He exults in seeing what he or his followers can burn, break, flood,kill or otherwise utterly destroy. He is like a malicious and twisted childwhose power and wrath know no bounds and who proves his self-worthand standing again and again by raining havoc and ruin down on thosewho can little oppose him. Under the alias of Malyk, Talos is trying to foldwild and destructive magic into his portfolio. Mystra is openly challengingthe Storm Lord’s ploy, and it is likely to fail quickly in the face of her openopposition.

When Talos is portrayed in religious art, he looks similar to his avatar(see below). His home, the Towers of Ruin, is also known as the ScreamingTowers and the Towers at the Heart of the Winds because of the howlingwinds that curl eternally around it in a helix. He is served by Auril, Malar,and Umberlee. Collectively, the four are known as the Gods of Fury. Thestorm god’s relationship with Auril is said to he close and cordial, though hehas no compunction about attempting to erode and usurp her portfolio andpower base whenever possible. His relationship with Umberlee is flirtatiousand filled with rivalry. Talos and Malar only grudgingly work together, andMalar would happily kill Talos if he only had the power to do so. Talos hasrecently sponsored the once-mortal Velsharoon the Vaunted to demipowerstatus, but Velsharoon is not likely to survive long with the sort of “aid”Talos seems to be providing powers in his service.

Aside from his divine foes listed above, Talos counts among his enemiesall those who dare to work magic to try to control the winds and weather inan ongoing or wide-ranging fashion, including the mortal wizards ofNetheril and Myth Drannor in the past and the wizards of Halruaa andThay currently.

Talos�s Avatar (Fighter 37, Mage 27, Cleric 15)When Talos is seen, which is seldom, he appears as a broad-shouldered,bearded young man with a single good eye, the other covered by a darkpatch. Some sages sap the empty eye socket is filled with whirling stars. Hedresses in a half-suit of field plate armor (sans helm) worn over smooth blackleather armor and black leather gloves. He can draw spells from any schoolor sphere except the spheres of animal, creation, law, or plant. He cannotuse light-creating spells or forms of spells from the sun sphere.

AC -5; MV 15, Fl 24; HP 235; THAC0 -10; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d6+19 (quarterstaff +3, +14 Str, +2 spec. bonus in quarterstaff)MR 65%; SZ H (12 feet)Str 25, Dex 17, Con 23, Int 19, Wis 17, Cha 18Spells P: 8/8/7/6/4/2/1, W: 6/6/6/6/6/6/5/5Saves PPDM 3, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: If Talos raises the eyepatch, chain lightning roars forthfrom the empty socket at targets of his choosing. If he removes his right

Talos ensure that they come true. This does not make his clergy membersterribly popular—yet another reason why they tend to travel a lot.

glove, the hand goes with it, revealing a hollow arm from which cones ofcold spray repeatedly (two a round, in addition to any spells Talos may

The church of Talos exults in the wild destruction of nature at itsfiercest. Clergy and the faithful tend to be fatalistic in nature as a result-

cast). If he removes his left glove, three staves issue forth from the hollow-ness that is his left arm; he can then wield any one of them in a round withhis right hand.

almost self-destructive. However, priests of Talos usually wish to take as

The first is a staff made from the first iron forged in the Realms, and itcan raise and hurl the winds. This staff works as-the 5th-level priest spell

many others with them as possible. The protections the Storm Lord con-fers upon his clergy make the priesthood of the Destroyer popular withmany folk who exult in the feeling of power-or who just like to destroythings. Ail would-be priests of the Storm Lord are confirmed his servicethrough the manifestation of Talos as two small storm clouds. The cloudsstrike a supplicant with a red lightning stroke that does him or her no

control winds, but Talos can always shift the category of wind up or downone within a round and can stabilize it as he wishes without spending timeto concentrate. Tales can also simultaneously use the wind control abilityto form a wind wall around himself similar to the 3rd-level wizard spell, but

harm, and it is revealed to the supplicant’s mind that she or he is indeedchosen to serve the Stormstar. This is referred to as being “Touched byTalos.”

In the priesthood of Talos, specialty priests, known as stormlords (a titleof incredible strength.

The second is a staff of the first silver smelted in Faerûn, and it can callup deadly waves, waterspouts, whirlpools, or part water with such power asto lay bare the bottom of a river, lake, or harbor. Waterspouts and deadlywaves have THAC0 7 and do 5d6 points of damage per Successful attack.For purposes of this staff’s effects on terrain, ships, and structures, it worksas either the regular or reversed forms of the 4th-level priest spell lowerwater or the 6th-level priest spell part water, but Tales can affect any areaup to 3 miles in diameter.

used irrespective of gender), are by far predominant and clerics are in theminority. The split is about 80/20. Clerics are usually found only as adven-turers and free operatives outside the scattering of church cells, which areall led by stormlords. Typical titles used by clergy of Talos, in ascendingorder of rank, are: Storm Supplicant, Weatherwise, Talon (full, confirmedpriest), Lord/Lady of Fury, Eye of the Storm, Reaver, Stormherald (high

The third staff is carved from the first tree felled in Faerûn (said to be ashadowtop), and it can move earth swiftly and over a large enough area toopen great rifts in the land or can cause earthquakes. This move earth abil-ity is as the 6th-level wizard spell, but Talos can effect whatever terrain hewishes up to 3 miles square in length and width and until bedrock is struckin depth, requires no earth elemental, and completes all movement in nomore than five rounds. The earthquake ability is as the 7th-level priest spellcast by a 30th-level cleric.

priest), High Stormherald, and Weathermaster/Weathermistress.The spells of a Stormherald relating directly to natural forces (such as

call lightning and flame strike) deal double the normal damage, and so theuppermost three titles in this list are honors bestowed and confirmed byTalos, not ranks that priests dare to assume for themselves—for Talos de-stroys those who speak against his will. High-level Talassan priests canstrip their inferiors of all spell powers for a day thanks to a secret, powerful7th-level spell—so they can literally command obedience. Most have usedthis threat wisely and sparingly to gather individual priests together to

Talos can also use any of these staves as a quarterstaff +3. He is immune wield powerful storm magics against Harpers, Lathanderites, and otherto lightning and electrical damage of any sorteye) and to any sort of damage causedby cold,

(except that causedwind, air, or water.

by his forces that have gathered to deal with them.The clergy of Bhaelros in Calimshan and the clergy of Talos had a brief

period of conflict over which of their deities is the “real god of destruc-There are persistent rumors that if Talos ever removes his eyepatch andboth gloves at once, he will be destroyed. Confirmed reports reveal that ifhe ever directly tastes damage from one of his staves, from his right arm, orfrom his eye, Talos vanishes for 4d10 days and does not grant spells to hisclergy nor manifest in any way in Faerûn for that time.

tion.” Since Bhaelros is merely an alias of Talos, Talos evidently found theongoing blood feud both amusing and a fitting tribute in human destruc-tion to his name. Relations have now calmed again, and the relationshipbetween the two churches is cordial once more.

Other Manifestations Most Talassan temples and shrines are secret because of the reputationof the church. The worship of Tales is outlawed in many countries. Wherethere are public temples to Talos, many of them take the form of castles orwalled compounds because they must often serve as strongholds that thefaithful of Tales can defend against angry folk.

Dogma: Tales the Destroyer is the dark side of nature, the uncaringand destructive force that lies waltmg to strike at any time. Talassans aretaught that life is a combination of random effects and chaos, so the de-vout should grab what they can, when they can, as who can say whenTalos will strike and bring them into the afterlife?

Talassan clergy are to preach to all of the might of Tales, warning themalways of the forces only he can command-the fury of all Faerûn. Theyare never to cease in such speech, so that everyone may know that Talos isto be worshiped by all, and that in time to come he must be, or he will de-stroy all life with the forces at his command. His clergy should walk un-afraid in all storms, forest fires, earthquakes, and other disasters, for thepower of Talos protects them. They should let others see this wheneverpossible, so that unbelievers will come to believe in the true poser ofalmighty Talos.

The ChurchTalassan clergy should make all fear Talos by showing the destruction

that he and all of his servants can cause. To avoid tasting his fury, they areto pray to him energetically and tell all folk that such observances—andonly such observances—can protect them from the furies of gales, hali-storms, winds, floods, droughts, blizzards, hurricanes, and other naturaldooms. Such forces can also be hurled at one’s foes-an advancing orchorde, for instance—if Talos deems a place or a person worth defending. Soone cannot afford to ignore Talos, but must bow down and worship him.The clergy of Talos are to proclaim this message to all and show everyonethe destruction even the slightest of the servants of Talos can cause.

Day-to-Day Activities: Talos always has too fen worshipers for his lik-ing, so his clergy are sent out into the world to spread word of his mightand to try to recruit others to his worship—either out of fear or becausesuch people enjoy the wielding of raw power. As examples to all, the fatal-istic priests of Talos tend to indulge in acts of random or spiteful destruc-tion as they travel and to make examples of all folk who stand up to themor try to prevent them from entering a community or passing along a road.

Talos is usually encountered as titanic, bellowing laughter in the heart of agale. Sometimes the laughter is accompanied by two eyes like giant blazingcoals, which are surrounded by swirling maelstroms of air. At sea, thismanifestation always means the loss of at least one ship.

In urban areas, Talos more often manifests as two fist-sized, swirlingstorm clouds. There is a clap of thunder, and lightning arcs between theclouds. If Talos is displeased, a bolt of lightning striking for 9d6 points ofdamage (and often forking) leaps from each cloud to strike at the beings orobjects that offend him. If the god is bestowing favor, red-hued lightningcrackles and shoots forth from both in a straight beam (not a zigzaggingbolt) to the being or item Talos is pleased with and bestows upon it heal-ing or spells. The red lightning stroke can even temporarily confer suchpowers as infravision, the ability to fly, or X-ray vision.

Talos also sometimes works through the presence or action of var-gouilles, yeth hounds, quasits, wind walkers, and the elemental spiritsknown as tempests. When he appears as Bhaelros in Calimshan, he oftenmanifests in the form of a turbaned genie with dusky skin rising out of asandstorm.

CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: CN, LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, If neutral; SP: YesCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, If evil; SP: YesAll clerics and specialty priests of Talos receive religion (Faerûnian) as abonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Talos are immune to lightningor electrical damage.

Talos’s name is invoked by individuals who wish to escape his atten-tions, not suffer them. He has few direct followers who support (and en-courage) his depredations. Rather, he is more feared than worshiped, whichseems to account for the pernicious underground presence of his churchthroughout Faerûn as much as anything. His established clergy is itinerantfor the most part and preaches by warning of dooms and disasters to come.Frequently his priests are right in their predictions because either they or

Some priests pillage, burn, and steal as enthusiastically as any brigand, andhamlets that fight them off tend to be visited a season or so later by a gath-ering of Talassan priests who try to slaughter everyone and lay waste to theplace. This practice had led to some settlements fearfully hiring “adven-turing bands in residence” to ward off a similar fate after one or more citi-zens have had hostile dealings with any Talassan clergy. Few priests ofTalos seem to have the patience to simply drown a community out by fix-ing endless, stationary storms above it.

Talos does not seem to mind priests who indulge in fulfilling personaldesires for wealth, food, luxury items, and wanton behavior so long as theycall up a storm or engage in random, spectacular acts of violence onceevery tenday or so (toppling towers is always effective). As a result, someclergy have taken up a life of brigandage. They pose as lunatics in order tospread the word of Talos as ordered, and the rest of the time they adopt dis-guises to scout out rich prizes to strike at.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Talassans mark ail of the annualfestivals (Greengrass, Midsummer, and so on) with rituals that call downlightning or call up storms. Calling Down the Thunder is the most sacredof these rituals and involves the slaying of an intelligent being by light-ning in return for the Storm Lord granting a special boon. This boon isusually the bestowal of a spell normally beyond a Talassan priest’s ability toreceive and wield, but it is sometimes a deed such as the sending of a stormdown on a particular locale or being named by the priest.

A more frequently seen ritual is the Fury, which is simply a berserk at-tack on folk and items made while howling the name of Talos repeatedly.It begins and ends with a prayer (if the priest survives) and usually in-volves the hurling of spells and of lit, carried torches, in an effort to visitconsiderable destruction on a place or encampment within a short time. Itis considered most holy when performed by a lone Talassan priest—butagainst formidable foes, clergy of Talos usually attack together or draw offdefenders by creating illusory attackers in one direction and mountingtheir own real attack from another.

Major Centers of Worship: The most important center of worship toTalos in Faerûn is the Gulf of Storms in eastern Amn: a deep, narrow cleftvalley between the mountains of Assar’s Peak and Mount Thalangar,which can be found northeast of Eshpurta. The peculiar iron ore outcropshigh in the walls of this valley combined with the valley’s shape and thepresence of rock here whose crystals attract electrical charges make thevalley prone to filling with spectacular, deadly arrays of crisscrossing, leap-ing bolts of lightning whenever a natural or magical bolt of lightningstrikes one of the walls of the Gulf. Sometimes these discharges seem to at-tract storms, clouds that race down the valley and then lash across Amnand Tethyr. Devout Talassans call such storms the Tongues of Talos andview them as a sign that the god is pleased with the doings of his faithful.

Many Talassans make pilgrimages to the Gulf to cast lightning downinto it or to witness such an act. This makes the luxurious cave homesbuilt into Mount Thalangar the most Important temple in a religion wheremost clergy wander or live as brigands in the wild. However, there areother prominent temples to Talos, notably in Hlondeth in the VilhonReach at the foot of Mt. Ugruth, a semiactive volcano.

Affiliated Orders: Many brigand bands, reavers, and raiders pay trib-ute to Talos and his priesthood, but none are organized enough to really becalled an affiliated order. Rumors tell of a mysterious group of wizards whospecialize in exotic combinations of elemental magic known as the Lordsof the Tempest that owes allegiance to Talos. Other whispers in darkplaces speak of Talos’s sponsorship of certain necromancers into lichdomand of a cabal at crazed sages and mystic spellcasters of assorted disciplines,both religious and secular, intent on bringing about the end of the world—known only as the Circle of Rust and the Worm—who have sought andobtained the Destroyer as a patron.

Priestly Vestments: High clergy of Talos have ceremonial robes ofblue-white streaked with crimson that seem to crackle with lightning dueto a minor Illusory glamer, but all clergy dress in robes and cloaks of blackshot through with teardrops and jagged lines of gold or silver—garb whichhas earned them the unflattering name “doom crows,” as they go about theRealms preaching of devastations to come. The robes have jagged hemsand rough, uneven sleeves. A black eyepatch is also worn, even if theclergy member has good vision in both eyes.

In addition to the symbol detailed above, the Talassan church oftenmake use of a modified symbol of Talos on banners: a stylized white light-ning bolt on a crimson field between two flanking horizontal white bars.The bolt curves upward from between the bars toward the dexter thenabruptly ascends and descends in a sharp zigzag.

Adventuring Garb: It should be noted thatclergy of Talos enjoy destruction and arm themselvesheavily to bring it about where spells may fail at all

times. When not involved in ceremonies, Talassanstend to go to one of two extremes: Either they armorthemselves to the hilt in the most menacing-lookingarmor they can obtain, or they wear next to no armorand use protective magics instead so that to average

observers they look almost suicidal in their fervor to get into the thick of de-struction.

Specialty Priests (Stormlords)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 13, Wisdom 14PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomALIGNMENT: CEWEAPONS: All bludgeoning weapons (wholly Type B) and javelinsARMOR: A n yMAJOR SPHERESS: All, animal, astral, chaos, combat, elemental, healing,

necromantic, summoning, sun, war, weatherMINOR SPHERES: Creation, divination, protection, timeMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, plus magical javelinsREQ. PROFS: Weather senseBONUS PROFS: None• Stormlords can endure extremes of heat and cold in their surroundings

without harm. They can never die of exposure, even if naked and wet,and can walk through fires of natural origin unharmed, though theirclothing and equipment will be damaged. They suffer the normal damagedealt by all cold- and fire-based magic and creature breath weapons.

• Stormlords are immune to all forms of lightning and electrical damage.• Stormlords are able to cast shocking grasp (as the 1st-level wizard spell)

once a day.• At 3rd level, stormlords can call lightning (as the 3rd-level priest spell) or

ride the wind (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) once a day.• At 5th level, stormlords can water walk (as the 3rd-level priest spell) at

will.• At 5th level, Stormlords are able to cast control winds (as the 5th-level

priest spell) once a day.• At 7th level, stormlords may cast a lightning bolt (as the 3rd-level wizard

spell) once per day. They may not cast the lightning bolt if they are wearingany metallic armor (including studded leather). They gain an additionallightning bolt for every three levels of experience (another at 10th, a thirdat 13th, etc.).

• At 10th level, stormlords may control weather (as the 7th-level priest spell)once per day. Stormlords may move the conditions to any worse condi-tion under the same prevailing heading (as per the chart in the spell de-scription). Stormlords can never use their abilities to improve theweather conditions.

• At 15th level, stormlords may cause an earthquake (as the 7th-level priestspell) once every tenday.

Talassan Spells2nd LevelWind Lash (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: WeatherRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: ½This spell creates an invisible, weightless whip of hard-edged air extendingfrom a limb of the caster. With this construct, the caster can strike with hisor her normal THAC0 at one chosen opponent, dealing 2 points of damageper level per successful attack. In any round in which the wind lash suc-cessfully strikes, all target spellcasting that has a castings time of more than1 is ruined, and the target must make a successful saving throw vs. paralyza-tion or be hurled to the ground, taking an additional 1 point of damage andforcing all fragile carried items to make a saving throw vs. fall.

The caster can switch targets at will, but switching targets takes a round,during which tune no one can be attacked by the wind lash. The nature ofthe wind lash is such that only the chosen target is struck. Other beings areaware of the spell because it emits terrifying snarling wind noises and mayeven blow away small, light objects such as cap-feathers and parchments

5th Level

A successful saving throw vs. spell halves the physical damage (rounddown); there is no save against the lightning. Beings caught within a stormcone cannot cast spells or launch attacks and can only fight free of the stormcone by making successful Strength and Dexterity ability checks on thesame round.

Tempus(Lord of Battles, Foehammer)Greater Power of Limbo, CNPORTFOLIO: War, battle, warriorsALIASES: Tempos (among the barbarians of Icewind Dale)DOMAIN NAME: Limbo/Knight’s RestSUPERIOR: None

Priests praying to Tempus for spells or guidance may see visions of the godhimself, of his mounts, or of a famous dead warrior and must interpret whatthey see as an indication of the god’s intent and favor. Only the images ofdead warriors in visions sent to mortals ever speak the will of the war god di-rectly. Tempus himself only snarls in battle-fury or keeps silent. (In fact, hehas never been known to speak while in Faerûn.) Lay worshipers praying tothe war god usually see Veiros or Deiros. To those requesting aid in battle or

Tempus sometimes manifests before a battle, appearing to one side or theother. If he rides Veiros upon one side, then that army will succeed in itsbattle. If he rides Deiros, then defeat is in the offing. Most often he appearsriding with one foot on each horse as they gallop across the battlefield, indi-cating the chaotic nature of battle.

Other Manifestations

A storm cone whirls about all beings it touches, buffets them with invis-ible “stones” of solid air contained within the storm cone, and stabs themwith tiny lightning bolts that arc about continuously within the vortex.The whirling and buffeting effect forces touched beings to make savingthrows vs. fall and crushing blow for all worn or carried items and inflicts onall creatures 5d4 points of damage. The lightning bolts strike creaturestouched by the storm cone for an additional 2d4 points of damage and forceaffected beings to make saving throws vs. lightning for all worn or carrieditems unless they are protected against electrical damage. Both buffetingdamage and lightning damage are suffered in each round of contact withthe storm cone.

Tempus employs an array of +5 magical, giant-sized, silver-bladed weap-ons (doing triple base weapon-type damage), but none of them are knownto have special powers. Though made of silver, they all look blackened andbattle-worn in Tempus’s hands. He need never be without a melee weaponand can summon one of his magical weapons to hand instantly from thinair. He is proficient in all weapons and specialized in all melee weapons. Heis also familiar with all forms of nonlethal combat. If the PLAYER’S OPTION:Combat & Tactics rules are used, he is considered proficient in all armor andshield types, a grand master of all melee weapons, proficient with all otherweapons, and an expert at all forms of unarmed combat.

Special Att/Def: The smoking, wine-red blood of Tempus burns thosewho are not deities as if it were acid, but beings who ingest even a drop ofthe blood of his mounts gain a +2 Strength bonus for 2d4 turns. Tempus isimmune to all charm - type spells, psionic attacks, mental control, illusions,and magical deception of all sorts. His body regenerates 3 points of damageper round.

Storm Cone (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Elemental Air, WeatherRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 4 rounds +1 round/3 levels above 9thCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: 60-foot-long cone, 20 in diameter at its mouthSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a whirling vortex of wind in a 60-foot-long cone shapethat flares from its apex close to the caster to a mouth 20 feet in diameter.The caster can move the storm cone up, down, or sideways 10 feet in eachround of its existence. The storm cone lasts for 4 rounds plus 1 round forevery three whole levels of experience the caster has above 9th level (5rounds at 12th level, 6 at 15th level, etc.).

STR 25, DEX 19, CON 25, INT 20, WIS 18, CHA 19Spells P: 11/11/10/9/7/5/2Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

AC -7, MV 15; HP 246; THAC0 -10; #AT 5/2Dmg Weapon +21 (weapon +5, +14 STR, +2 spec. bonus in all melee weapons)MR 75%; SZ H (12 feet)

Tempus's Avatar (Fighter 40, Cleric 20)Tempus appears as a human giant 12 feet tall, his plate armor battered andbloodied by combat, his face hidden by a massive war helm but his hoodedgaze a palpable force. He bears a great battle axe or a black sword notchedand stained from much use in his gauntleted hands. His legs and arms arebare and crisscrossed by bleeding wounds, but this does not affect him as herides into battle. He sometimes appears afoot but is often riding a white mare(Veiros) or a black stallion (Deiros). Tempus has access to all spell spheres.

His diametric opposite in portfolio, Eldath, he considers naive andweak. However, out of respect for her convictions, he punishes those of hisfaithful who abuse her priests, shrines, or temples. Perhaps he feels that warhas little meaning without peace to define and highlight it. Sune, who con-siders him a foe, he regards as irrelevant and flighty, and therefore unworthyof being his foe.

A storm shield is effective from all sides, but it only deflects normal mis-siles; a sword or other weapon can be thrust through it with no effect on ei-ther the shield or the attack.

A storm shield is always about 6 inches thick and occupies a square, flatarea of 10 square feet/level, stopping where it encounters solid obstacles. Itcan be fitted into a narrow passage or opening, so as to seal it entirely or bemade to fold in on itself if the caster so wills to make a smaller barrier thatcan be moved about in narrow confines without becoming stuck. The castercan move the shield by force of will at MV 12 (B) and turn or tilt it as de-sired, until she or he engages in other spellcasting, whereupon control overthe shield is lost, and it remains stationary until the spell expires.

3rd LevelStorm Shield (Abjuration)Sphere: Protection, WeatherRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 6 rounds+1d4 roundsCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a floating, weightless, mobile barrier of solid air that blocksall damage from winds, lightning, normal missiles, and heat or cold. A stormshield attracts all electrical discharges within 30 feet and absorbs them sothat no harm is done to nearby beings. It automatically neutralizes any ex-treme of heat (including fire), or cold (including ice), that it comes intocontact with, but does so only once for each extreme. A storm shield neutral-izes a second encounter or round of contact with either extreme heat orcold, but as it does so, the storm shield itself dissipates, ending the spell.

Although mighty and profoundly honorable in battle, Tempus answersto his own warrior’s code. He is quiet and solitary in relationship to otherFaerûnian deities, pursuing no long-lasting alliances or brief flirtations. Heis known to love food, drink, and the hunt, though he loves battle best. Inrecent years, he has sponsored the Red Knight into godhood. His relation-ship with her is one of a fond and protective father to a brilliant daughterwho works hard and successfully at the family business—war.

battles and important combats—and on rare occasions to individuals whoare in a position to cause great strife by their decisions.

GaragosA blazing silver sword on a blood-red fieldA n y

Tempus (TEM-pus) is random in his favors, yet hischaotic nature favors all sides equally. Lord Tempusmay be on an army’s side on one day, and against themthe next; such is the nature of a war. Tempus is prayedto most of all on the nights before battles and regularlyvenerated by all warriors, regardless of their alignment.As a result, he is a strong, exuberant, robust god—awarrior’s god. Tempus sometimes appears at huge

that are not securely gripped (but they suffer no damage). If the spellcastercasts another spell while this spell is still in effect, the wind lash dissipatesimmediately. A wind lash - wielder can employ magical items simultane-ously with a lash if they can be wielded with one hand.

FOES:SYMBOL:WOR. ALIGN.:

ALLIES: The Red Knight, Valkur the Mighty, Nobanion, Gond,Uthgar

self-defense, the favor of Tempus may manifest as a weapon appearing besidethem when they are weaponless.

Tempus also uses einheriar (former warriors of all sorts), eagles, badgers,war horses, war dogs, panthers, tigers, special weapons that appear where nonewere before, ghostly figures in the form of lost battle companions, and itemsmade of steel to demonstrate his approval or disapproval or to send aid to hisfaithful. He shows an odd lack of affinity for any gemstones, but sometimesseems to favor those a particular warrior’s culture associates with bravery.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, shamansCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, CN, LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: No, Sha: Yes, if goodCMND. UNDEAD: C: No. SP: No, Cru: No. Sha: Yes. if neutral or evilAll clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, and shamans of Tempus receive reli-gion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Tempus is worshiped by those of every alignment and lineage who wagewar for all causes. The Tempuran clergy may be foundon both sides of a con-flict, as none can ever truly know whom the war god will favor. Priests ofTempus tend to be human, male, and of a temperament that enjoys battle,

blessing of a spell, a manifestation, or direct aidof somethough the clergy is open to all beings who have prayed privately to Tempusand received thesort. In some societies, such as that of the Northmen of the Moonshae Is-lands and the barbarians of Icewind Dale, Tempus is served by shamans.Temples of Tempus are usually what are more commonly known as walledmilitary compounds than what most picture as temples.

Military ranks within the faith are common. Ranks typical of manytemples of Tempus are Warpriest, Swung Sword, Terrible Sword, Lance ofthe Lord, Shield of the God Battlelady/Battlelord, Swordmaster/Sword-mistress, and Lady/Lord of the Field—but these are often superseded by titlesthat go with a position, such as Battle Chaplain of a shrine or Trusted Sword(seneschal) of a temple. Ranks are assigned by those in authority in thechurch in light of service, needs, and situation, and brevet (temporary)commands are common in desperate situations. Special leaders of a templeor crusade are entitled to wear the heavy battle gauntlet of rank.

Dogma: Tempus does not win battles—Tempus helps the deserving war-rior win battles. War is fair in that it oppresses all sides equally and that inany given battle, a mortal may be slam or become a great leader among hisor her companions. War should not be feared, but seen as a natural force, ahuman force, the storm that civilization brings by its very existence.

The faithful of Tempus are charged to arm all for whom battle is needful,even foes. They should retreat from hopeless fights, but never avoid battle,and slay one toe decisively and bring battle to a halt rather than hackingdown many over time and dragging on hostilities. They are to defend whatthey believe in, lest it be swept away, and remember the dead who fell fight-ing before them. Above all, they should disparage no foe and respect all, forvalor blazes in all, regardless of age, gender, or race.

Tempus looks favorably upon those who acquit themselves honorablyand tirelessly in battle, smiting mightily when facing a foe, but avoidingsuch craven tricks as destroying homes, family, or livestock when a foe isaway or attacking from the rear (except when such an attack is launched bya small band against foes of vastly superior numbers). Tempus believes thatwarriors should responsibly consider the consequences of the violence theydo beforehand and try to not hot-headedly rush off to wage war recklessly.On the other hand, Tempus teaches that people with smooth tongues orfleet feet who avoid all strife and never defend their beliefs wreak more harmthan the most energetic tyrant raider or horde leader.

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of the war god are charged to keep war-fare a thing of rules, respected reputation, and professional behavior, mini-mizing uncontrolled bloodshed and working to eradicate feuding that ex-tends beyond a single dispute or bet of foes. At the same time, training andreadiness for battle must be promoted if civilized human holdings are to sur-vive in Faerûn in the face of monster raids and orc hordes-and the power ofTempus to aid those he favors in battle must also be promoted. Warriors—especially mercenaries—who employ poison or taint wells, sow fields withsalt, kill noncombatants, indulge in torture or the wanton slaughter of inno-cent folk when they are not at war, or commit similar sins against fair battleare to be denied the favor of the god, their crimes are to be publicized far andwide, and they are to be made to atone for their deeds or perish.

War priests must preserve the names of the honored battle-fallen, both ongravestones and other such memorials, in their prayers to Tempus, and in anannual chant at the March of the Dead, wherein priests of the war god gothrough the streets to call all folk, worshipers and nonbelievers alike, to thelocal Feast of the Moon boated by their temple. Priests are also charged to

Valley of the Gods

It is said that even the powers must cavort and amuse themselves once in a

great while. Far to the north of the Spine of the World is the Valley of the

Gods. A paradise unequaled on this world or in the planes, this playground of

the gods is not meant for mortals. Any mortal who reaches the Valley becomes

a deity, for only deities may exist in the Valley. Far too many mortals with delu-

sions of grandeur have thrown away the pleasures of this side of the Spine and

their kingdoms in this world only to break their backs searching for the leg-

endary Valley of the Gods.

collect and venerate the weapons and armor of famous and respected war-riors, even if these are broken or have deteriorated, for they retain somethingof the battlelust and energy associated with the deeds they participated in.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The ritual performed by most ofthe faithful is a prayer for valiant performance and survival in the fray ahead,made to the war god over the weapon the praying being most often fightswith. If a new weapon comes into the believer’s possession before a battle-particularly in the form of hard-won booty-it is taken as a sign of Tempus’sfavor, and this weapon is the one used in worship.

The eves and anniversaries of great battles are the holy days of thechurch of Tempus, and as such vary from place to place. The Feast of theMoon, honoring the dead, is the most important fixed date in the religiouscalendar. It is also expected that at least once a tenday worshipers of Tempusspill a few drops of blood (preferably their own or a worthy foe’s) and singthe Song of the Sword in Tempus’s honor. Regardless of battle anniversaries,clergy perform at least two ceremonies each day: the Feast of Heroe at high-sun and the Song for the Fallen at sunset. In most temples, a senior pricstalso conducts a Song of the Sword ceremony after dark for all lay worshipersdesiring to attend.

Major Centers of Worship: The most prominent Tempuran temple isthe High House of Swords and Banners (“the Bloodhall”) in Ormpetarr,which began centuries ago as a meetmg house for the many mercenary com-panies active in the Vilhon and the lands east and became the first shrine ofthe Lord of Battles. Its original altar, a gigantic bowl over which an en-chanted flaming two-handed sword levitates and slowly rotates, still standsin the heart of the vast central hall. The High House now trains warriors forfees (simultaneously instructing them in the worship of Tempus), and alsosells warriors mounts, armor, and equipment of superior quality. Several raidson its fortified armories in the past have failed, but such attacks have ceasedsince the warrior-priests of the High House wiped out an orc horde 20 timestheir number in the Year of the Sword (1365 DR).

Since the Time of Troubles, a site of great holiness in the church of Tem-pus has been the Abbey of the Sword in Battledale, which marks the spotwhere Tempus descended to Faerûn during the Time of Troubles. The sitewas located after a priest of the war god followed Tempus’s backtrail awayfrom his appearance at the battlefield of Swords Creek in Mistledale. Theabbey is built on the former site of the hold of the warrior Belarus, a devoutworshiper of the war god in tunes past.

Affiliated Orders: The Tempuran church has many affiliated orders.Two of note are the Order of the Broken Blade and the Order of the SteelFang. The Order of the Broken Blade honors those warriors and clergy whoare injured in Tempus’s service and can no longer fight in the front lines.Broken Blades often serve in support functions at temples and shrines &take a personal oath upon joining the order to defend the holy site wherethey reside to the death as a final line of defense. The Order of the SteelFang is an elite fighting order within the church whose members are oftenassigned to the most hazardous duties. Steel Fang units are led by battle-hardened members of the clergy. Many mercenary companies and knightlyfighting orders of crusaders also avail themselves of a connection to thechurch. One badge of the god seen among his affiliated mercenaries is arusty brown dagger, shown diagonally with its point to the upper right,dripping four drops of blood. No knightly orders of paladins serve Tempus,however.

Priestly Vestments: When not in battered armor, clergy of the war godwear helms or steel skullcaps, though they are careful never to cover theirfaces, for such close emulation of Tempus is thought to be an affront to theLord of Battles. Some of the fanatical wanderlng priests never remove all oftheir armor at any time, but in the temples of the big cities clergy are rarelyseen in armor except at ceremonies held before whelmed armies leave or asiege begins.

The robes of a priest of Tempus always sport trim the crimson hue of freshblood, but vary in overall color from place to place and rank to rank. Darker-colored robes are worn by those of lower ranks. Most war priests wear cere-

monial garments of brown or purple. Red or amber is worn by senior clergy, Casting Time: 6and yellow or white by those of the most exalted rank. Area of Effect: 1 nonbladed weapon or the caster’s holy symbol

Specialty priests of Tempus, particularly those of high rank, wear a spikedgauntlet as a symbol of office. The gauntlet costs 10 gp, though more elabo-rate and expensive ones may be found in more important churches. Thisgauntlet is size S, a piercing weapon with speed factor 2, and inflicts 1d4points of damage to creatures of any size. The gauntlet usually is worn onlyby specialty priests with some sort of authority—those in charge of templesor leading crusades.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring garb is the same for both cleric andspecialty priests of Tempus. Most wear the best armor they can obtain,though it is battle-worn and battered as it is for use, not show. They preferfull plate armor or plate mail. A full helm is usual, but it is worn with eitheran open face plate or no face plate.

Specialty Priests (Battleguards)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 14, Wisdom 12PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomALIGNMENT:WEAPONS:

CG, CN, CEAll bludgeoning weapons (wholly Type B), the spikedglove, plus one other weapon of choice

ARMOR: A n yMAJOR SPHERESS: Animal, chaos, combat, divination, elemental, healing,

necromantic, protection, war, weatherMINOR SPHERES: All, guardian, summoning, sun, wardsMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics, plus magical versions of individual “cho-

sen” weaponsREQ. PROFS: NoneBONUS PROFS: Armorer, blind-fighting, charioteering, weaponsmithingl Battleguards can incite a berserker rage in themselves and others. The

rage lasts for 10 rounds. During this time, the recipients have a +2 bonusto attack, damage, and all saving throws. A battleguard may use this abil-ity once a day and can affect one person per each of his or her experiencelevels, but must affect himself or herself first. The berserker rage lasts afull 10 rounds. If recipients run out of enemies to fight, they must eitherattack the closest living target in the area (even a friend) or suffer 5points of damage for each of the remaining rounds. This is a consciouschoice of the berserk character

l At initiation, battleguards each choose particular weapons as their cho-

fight with that weapon type normally, but when using that particularweapon, she or he gains a +1 bonus to hit and damage in addition to anyother benefits in effect. Should the chosen weapon be lost or destroyed,the battleguard must reconsecrate a new weapon at a recognized templeof Tempus in a ceremony of meditation and fasting which takes a tenday.If a two-handed weapon is taken as the chosen weapon, no shield mayever be used by the battleguard.

sen weapons. This weapon is one specific weapon, not a weapon type.This chosen weapon may be of any type. A battleguard is then able to

inless it can also be used as a melee weapon (like a spear).l Battlguards can determine the workmanship, potential magical ability,

and actual magical pluses (though not any other special or magical abili-ties) of any weapons that they are proficient with, including their weap-ons of choice, by handling the weapons.

l At 3rd level, battleguards are able to cast create food and water once a day.l At 5th level, battleguards are able to cast prayer once a day as the 3rd-

level priest spell, but with a casting time of 1.l At 7th level, battleguards can make three melee attacks every two

rounds.l At 7th level, battleguards are able to cast create campsite or break campsite

(as the 3rd-level priest spell) once a day.l At 10th level, battleguards are able to create a heroes’ feast (as the 6th-

level priest spell) once every three days.l At 13th level, battleguards can make two melee attacks per round.

l Battleguards receive Constitution hit point adjustments to their HitDice as if they were warriors.

• No missile weapon can be taken by a speciality priest as a chosen weapon

Tempuran Spells3rd LevelHoly Flail (Alteration, Invocation)Sphere: Combat, CreationRange: TouchComponents V, S, MDuration: 1 round/level

Saving Throw: NoneThis spell allows the caster to transform his or her holy symbol or any non-bladed weapon wielded by another being that the cleric touches into a mag-ical holy flail. The holy symbol or transformed weapon becomes a snakelike,flexible field of force attached to a rigid hand-hold. This invisible, cracklingspectral flail has a +2 attack bonus when wielded in battle and is considereda magical weapon for attack purposes. The spell also conveys proficiency inthe use of the holy flail upon the flail’s wielder, provided this does not violateclass restrictions.

A strike from a holy flail inflicts 1d6+1 points of damage. If a holy flail iswielded by a priest of the same religion as the caster, a hit inflicts an addi-tional 1 point of damage per experience level of the caster to all undeadcreatures and to any creature of opposite moral stance (good vs. evil—lawfulvs. chaotic does not matter) to the caster. If the caster is neutral, the align-ment-oriented damage does not apply.

A holy flail created from a holy symbol can only he wielded by a priest ofthe same deity as the symbol, or it vanishes. If holy flail is cast upon a weaponheld by a creature of opposite moral stance to the casting cleric (see above),the flail does not form. A holy flail vanishes if it is transferred from onewielder to another unless the recipient is the caster or another priest of thesame deity. A holy flail does not need continued concentration to be main-tained and can be dropped to enable spellcasting or thrown as a weaponwithout vanishing.

The material components of this spell are the holy symbol or nonbladedweapon (which are not consumed by the spell) and a pinch of powderedgemstone.

4th LevelReveal (Divination) ReversibleSphere: DivinationRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 4 roundsCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: Up to 120-foot range of visionSaving Throw: NoneReveal allows the caster or another creature to which the ointment spellcomponent is applied to see clearly the location and outline of symbols,glyphs of warding, magically concealed inscriptions, and dweomers existingupon surfaces that are viewed even if these are not yet activated (such asmagic mouth, Mordenkainen’s faithful hound, Leomund’s trap, Nystul’s magicaura, hallucinatory terrain, wall of force). No clue as to the precise nature ofthe magic is given by the spell, but protective circles, symbols, and glyphs canall be scrutinized in detail and might well be identified by someone familiarwith them or recorded for later study. (Spellcraft proficiency checks mightbe applicable to determine that a marking is aglyph of warding and what itsidentity is, for instance.)

Reveal shows the presence of active or inactive gates or other links be-tween planes, including the presence of an astral silvery cord, but does notreveal astral, ethereal, or invisible creatures or things. Unlike true seeing, theauras of creatures are not shown; nor are polymorphed or magically changedthings shown for what they truly are (although the dweomer of an illusion,for example, would be seen).

The spell requires an ointment composed of four drops of wine, two dropsof water, two drops of giant squid sepia, a pinch of powdered eyebright (anherb), a large powdered blue sapphire worth at least 1,000 gp, and a pow-dered carbuncle (a deep-red garnet) worth at least 300 gp. The caster mixesthese in a ceramic or stone bowl, speaks the words of the spell while holdinghis or her holy symbol over the paste, and then applies it to the eyes of therecipient.

The reverse of the spell, conceal, masks all the above things from anycreature to whom a different ointment is applied for one turn per level ofthe caster. (This ointment is composed of a pinch of powdered monks-hood, six drops of onion juice, a pinch of dust, and seven drops of water,mixed and enspelled as above.) If during this time the affected being em-ploys true seeing, detect magic, or equivalent magic, these spells appear towork, but the phenomena listed above are simply not seen by the affectedcreature. Awake, mobile creatures unwilling to have the ointment for ei-ther version of the spell applied to their eyes must be touched by the castertwice (two successful attack rolls required), but washing out the eyes orany means short of dispel magic or a limited wish does not prevent the oint-ment from working.

6th LevelDance of the Fallen (Evocation, Necromantic)Sphere: Guardian, NecromanticRange: 30 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 3 rounds/levelCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: 5-foot- to 60-foot-diameter cylinder that is 5 to 20 feet

highSaving Throw: SpecialDance of the fallen is often used to capture, disarm, or force to flee or sur-render foes to whom the caster has no wish to do lasting harm. Dance ofthe fallen is very similar to blade Barry, except that it creates a wall ofbody parts, not of edged weapons. A dance of the fallen calls up a whirlingcloud of severed limbs, some bony and some still bearing flesh, but all cu-riously bloodless. These remains are said to be summoned from recentbattlefields, and they rotate at high speed around a central point, formingan immobile barrier. The plane of rotation of the body parts can be hori-zontal, vertical, or any angle in between the two. The area of effect of thedance of the fallen is set mentally by the caster upon casting the spell (fromas little as a 5-foot-diameter cylinder that is 5 feet tall or thick to as largeas a 60-foot-diameter cylinder that is 20 feet tall or thick) and cannot bealtered thereafter.

Any creature trying to pass through the barrier suffers 4d6 points ofdamage and must make a Constitution ability check to avoid being strucksenseless. All fragile worn or carried items must make a successful itemsaving throw vs. crushing blow or be destroyed. Beings who insist on try-ing to cross through the dance of the fallen and are not rendered immedi-ately unconscious take ld3+2 rounds to cross through the area of effectand must take damage and make Constitution checks each round.

Beings within the barrier’s area of effect when it forms must make asaving throw vs. spell. If the saving throw succeeds, they escape the bar-rier by the most direct route and suffer no damage. If they saving throwfails, they suffer the full damage of the dance of the fallen. Any other in-tended action than leaving the area when the barrier is formed-such asa charge toward the caster—invites the full effects of the dance of thefallen.

Only 25% of the damage done by dance of the fallen is permanent; therest is temporary and returns after 1d4 hours are spent resting. Beings re-duced to 0 hit points or lower by this spell are rendered unconscious andelected from the area of effect. They regain consciousness in ld6 turns ormore quickly (1d6 rounds) if a successful healing proficiency check ismade upon them. The cloud of limbs remains until the spell expires andthen fades silently away. It can also be dismissed instantly by the caster atany time.

The material component of this spell is a handful of bone shards orhair of any type.

7th LevelBladebless (Necromantic)Sphere: CombatRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: One bladed weaponSaving Throw: NoneBy use of this spell, a priest heals a specific wound by bestowing a blessingon the weapon that caused it. This magic works only upon a nonmagicalbladed weapon, which the caster must touch and hold as he or she in-tones the blessing. After this is done, the last wound caused by that bladeto any living thing within one turn per experience level of the caster in-stantly is fully and completely healed, even if the blade was poisoned, adisease conferred, or a limb or head severed. Such healing occurs even ifthe affected creature is several planes distant at the casting of the bladeb-less. If the wounded creature died because it failed a system shock roll orpoison saving throw caused by this blow, then life is restored; however, ifthe wounded creature died due to cumulative hit point loss, life is not re-stored. The healed creature need not be seen, touched, or even known tothe caster. If such a wound has already healed or been magically healed, itis unaffected, and the bladebless is lost.

The material components for this spell are the weapon in question, thecaster’s holy symbol, and a drop of holy or unholy water, depending onthe caster’s alignment.

Sacred Link (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: CreationRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 2 roundsArea of Effect: Two identical or nearly identical objectsSaving Throw: NoneTo bring about a sacred link, a priest must hold in his or her hands the twoobjects to be linked and then cast the spell. The two items must be fash-ioned of the same material(s) and be roughly the same size. They cannotbe living creatures, and ideally they should be nearly identlcal (matchingswords, scrolls, statuettes, etc.), The sacred link spell causes an invisiblemagical bond to be created between the two items. After the spell is cast,both radiate a very faint dweomer, and what befalls to one item also mysti-cally happens to the other simultaneously, even if the two are separated bymyriad planes or any distance. For instance, if a scroll joined to a duplicateby a sacred link is sold to an enemy and the match for it is retained, severaldays after the sale the retained copy could be burned and the enemy’s copywould also be consumed, regardless of its location or situation. The linklasts until one of the items is destroyed or until a dispel magic by a caster ofat least 15th level is cast upon one of the items, negating the link.

By means of this spell, a weapon could be damaged or destroyed by af-fecting its twin—or conversely, an item could be improved by plating withgold, adorning with gems, or careful carving. This spell can be used to linkidentical magical items. Recharging or activating one linked item wouldthen identically affect the other, but there is a 1% cumulative chance peruse of the link (which is involuntary and not under anyone’s control oncethe spell is cast) that one of the items shatters or explodes (discharging allof its functions or charges) and ends the link.

The material components for this spell are the two items, the caster’sholy symbol, and a strand of fine wire, human hair, or spider web.

Torm(The True, the True God, the Brat, the Foolish,the Loyal Fury)Lesser Power of Mount Celestia, LGPORTFOLIO: Duty, loyalty, obedience, paladinsALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Mercuria/TrueheartSUPERIOR: TyrALLIES:FOES:SYMBOL:

Tyr, Helm, Ilmater, Red Knight, LathanderBane (now dead), Bhaal (now dead), Cyric, MaskA right-hand tnetal gauntlet held upright, palm openand toward the viewer, or a silver or gray metal shieldbearing the open-handed gauntlet device with threeblack arrows embedded in the shieldLG, NG, CG, LNWOR. ALIGN.:Torm (TORM) is the patron of paladins and those whoface danger for a greater good. In life, Torm was themost faithful of warriors, obeying all the commands ofhis king regardless of personal danger. Today he is thewar arm and champion of Tyr, Lord of Justice, deliver-ing justice to those who are evil, deceitful, and destruc-tive, and acting to keep law, order, and loyalty every-where. The Loyal Fury is unflinching in his duty and

judges his faithful accordingly. He is stern, righteous, and unyielding, yethis heart is filled first and foremost with goodness, and he can be a kindand gentle power when dealing with the young, the weak, and faithfulfriends of all sorts.

Together, Ilmater, Torm, and Tyr are sometimes called the Triad. Tormand Ilmater see themselves serving as opposite sides of the same coin andare close allies and friends. Torm and Helm have always been allies, al-though their followers are often rivals. At Tyr’s urging, Torm has begun tocultivate a close relationship with the Red Knight in the hope of drawingher into the fold of justice and away from war for its own sake.

Torm figured significantly in the struggle over the Tablets of Fate duringthe Time of Troubles. Prior to his battle with Bane, Lord of Strife, Torm ills-covered a great evil being done in his name by his then-current high priest(named Tenwealth). The followers of Torm had always dominated the reli-gious and political activity of Tantras, but during the time of Torm’s Com-ing, they began to actively persecute all “unbelievers” (in other words, fol-

lowers of other gods). With the aid of the fallen cleric of Sune named Adon,Torm implicated the chief conspirators and accused them of their crimes.

When the avatar of Bane marched across the Dragonreach to seize theTablet of Fate hidden in Torm’s temple (without the Lord of Duty’s knowl-edge), Torm absorbed the souls of many of his true worshipers, includingthe heretical leaders of his clergy, and assumed the form of a monstrouslion-headed man. He then battled Bane in a battle of mutual destruction,in the process destroying the besieging Zhentarim navy and creatingmany dead magic areas.

Because Torm died in service to his own ethos (following orders) andTorm’s native plane was the Prime Material itself, he was reinstated byLord Ao. Soon after, Tyr rewarded his faithful paladin with elevation tolesser power status. In the Year of the Sword, the Lonely Citadel, an iso-lated single-turreted tower of massive size that crowned a rocky spire inthe remote Ice Mountains north of Citadel Adbar, vanished in a burst ofdivine radiance and reappeared on the flanks of Mt. Celestia as Torm as-cended to the Outer Planes. It now forms the heart of his realm, True-heart, on the layer of Mercuria.

Torm was also active in the battle against Cyric 10 years after the Timeof Troubles. The Lord of Duty assisted Mystra, Oghma, and Mask in de-throning Cyric as Lord of the Dead, although Cyric was not destroyed.Torm’s actions have earned him and his followers the undying hatred ofCyric, Prince of Lies.

Torm still frequently stalks the Realms in avatar form, as he did whenhe was a demipower, battling legendary monsters and evil incarnate. Inthe liturgy of the Tormish church, it is said that Torm will perish in thefinal battle of the gods, saving the Realms once and for all from Cyric’smadness by his self-sacrifice.

Torm�s Avatar (Paladin 30, Crusader 30)Torm can choose to appear as a helmless, 12-foot-tall man in ancient fullplate armor stained dusky purple, who is possessed of an eternal calm.Sometimes he appears as an aging warrior with gray-white hair who haswithstood uncounted evi ls without breaking, and at other t imes as ahandsome, blond, young man of incredible personal magnetism, self-con-fidence, and quiet enthusiasm. When entering combat, Torm often shiftsform to appear as a lion-headed man. In any form, the Lord of Duty has astern voice and manner, unwavering courage set in his square jaw, thelight of righteousness flashing in his striking, deep blue eyes. Torm cancast spells from any sphere, but he favors spells from the spheres of com-bat, healing, guardian, law, and protection.

AC -4; MV 15; HP 207; THAC0 -9; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d10+18 (Duty’s Bond, +11 STR, +2 spec. bonus in all swords)MR 75%; SZ L (12 feet)STR 23, DEX 19, CON 21, INT 18, WIS 23, CHA 25Spells P: 13/12/12/12/11/10/8Saves* PPDM 1, RSW 3, PP 2, BW 2, Sp 4

*Includes +2 bonus to saving throws to a minimum of 1.

Special Att/Def: Torm is totally fearless and radiates a calming aurain a 10-foot radius that dispels all normal and magical fear, includingdragon fear, in his allies. In Torm’s gauntleted hands can appear anyweapon or weapons he desires to wield; they vanish from his hands whenhe wills them to. Torm is considered proficient with any weapon he uses,but he is only specialized in the use of all swords. He can attack with anyweapon or pair of weapons, but he typically wields Duty’s Bond, a massivetwo-handed holy avenger +5 with all the powers of a sun blade as well. Hecan target a different opponent with each attack if he so wishes.

Torm sometimes attacks with his gauntleted fists, particularly when hedoes not wish to kill his opponent. Each fist does 1d10+11 points of pum-meling damage—if Torm wishes, only one-quarter of this damage is real.

Torm’s lion-headed form can roar once per round in addition to hisnormal attacks with an effect equal to a great shout (similar the 8th-levelwizard spell detailed in Pages From the Mages and the FORGOTTEN REALMS

Adventures hardbound, without any of the negative effects). In additionto his normal attacks, Torm can hurl up to three spiritual hammers perround.

If Torm wishes, he can stand guard over any being, door, or opening. Al-though he can only attack twice per round when so doing, his form envelopsthe being or spot to be defended and protects it from all harm unless or untilTorm is destroyed. A protected being can see hear, act, and move freely, canreadily step out of and back into Torm’s protection, and can launch magic oremploy weapons without harming the god or his protection.

Other ManifestationsTorm often appears as a floating, flying metal gauntlet of gigantic size (up to12 feet in length) that glows with a white aura and is surrounded from tuneto time with arcs of lightning. It can point, speak with Torm’s voice, carrybeings or even quite tiny, fragile items, and smite walls, doors, or creatures(at AC -1, 75 hp, MV 15, the same magic resistance and saving throws asTorm’s avatar, and THAC0 1, dealing 5d12 points of damage at a blow plus4d8 points of electrical damage if Torm desires). Torm also occasionallymanifests as an animated weapon (usually a two-handed sword) or a shieldthat aids Torm’s faithful or causes.

Torm is served by gold and silver dragons, ki-rins, lammasus, pegasi, she-dus, watchghosts, xavers, and the Ghost Guard: the souls of the most loyalwarriors who ever lived, who live on as einheriar or similar beings who ridepegasi across the sky into battle at Torm’s direction. He occasionally mani-fests his favor as a blinding white diamond set into a door or stone wall, theimage of a gauntlet, shield, or sword burned into fabric, or as a pure whiterose growing in a castle gate or narrow mountain pass.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, paladins, crusadersCLERGY’S ALIGN.: LG, NG, CGTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Pal: Yes, Cru: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: Yes, Pal: No, Cru: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and crusaders of Torm receive religion (Faerûn-ian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Torm’s popularity is increasing, particularly in the wake of the events ofthe Time of Troubles. He benefits from an enthusiastic following of wor-shipers who appreciate his unswerving devotion to serving mortals—un-usual for a deity—and a number of fighting orders and paladins who havedevoted themselves to the True God. Priests and lay worshipers of Torm to-gether (that is, anyone of his faith) are known as the Tormish. The membersof the priesthood are known as Tormtar. Most Tormtar are human males, butboth sexes are welcome within the faith—and as the numbers of the elf anddwarf peoples dwindle and they increasingly see the vital need for law andorder among human communities to ensure their own survival, people of theFair Folk and the Stout Folk are embracing the True Faith and the Unbend-ing Way of Torm in ever-greater numbers.

The followers of Torm organize themselves into a three-level hierarchy ofworshipers. Length of and quality of service and rank are of particular im-portance to the followers of Torm and form the basis of the hierarchy. Spe-cialty priests, called holy champions, make up 40% of the priesthood andoften serve as the leaders of the faith. Clerics, crusaders, and paladins makeup 30%, 20%, and 10% of the remaining clergy members, respectively.

The top level of the hierarchy in Torm’s faith is comprised of the Torm-tar, who are arranged in their own strict hierarchy. The hierarchy amongTorm’s disciples ascends from the Unproven (novices), to the Andurans(confirmed priests of lower ranks), Faithblades, Wardens, Vigilants, Watch-ful Venturers, Loyans, Enforcers, Guardians, Knights, Vanguardiers, andChampions. These ranks are separate from duty-titles such as (in ascendingorder): Patrol Captain, Revered Messenger, Doorwarden, Seneschal, Tem-plemaster, High Priest, and Priest Inquisitor (the teachers and internal disci-plinarians of the faith).

The second level of the hierarchy of the faith is comprised of the knightlyorders dedicated to Torm. Members of these groups serve as the adventuringand warrior branches of Torm’s clergy and go on many quests in the serviceof Torm. The members of this tier are known as the Swords of Torm, andmost (if not all) of the Swords are crusaders and paladins in various knightlyorders, such as the Order of the Golden Lion, that are allied with the clergymembers but not under their direct command.

The third tier of the hierarchy of the faith comprises the lay followers ofTorm. Torm’s faithful Include many warriors and government officials,among others. Following the Time of Troubles, many have made pilgrimagesfrom all over the Realms to the Temple of Torm’s Coming in northernTantras. Torm’s followers are expected to make yearly tithes to the localtemple of Torm as they are able. In addition, they must follow the general re-ligious tenets of Torm as espoused by his clergy.

Temples of Torm are typically citadels of righteousness and are con-structed as impregnable fortresses, often high up on a mountain’s flankswhere they command an impressive view of the surrounding terrain. Suchcastles are often built of white granite and radiate a continuous, pure light.Statues of lions and armored knights line the halls and the badges of knightswho fell in the line of duty decorate the walls.

Dogma: Torm’s is one of the most ethically pure of all faiths in that it isdevoted to loyalty and obedience. This is not a blind obedience, and a ser-

vant working for an evil master is responsible to a higher authority in hisloyalty. The Tormish believe that salvation may be found through service,that every failure diminishes the Lord of Duty, and that every success adds tohis luster: They strive to maintain law and order and to obey their masters totheir utmost power with alert judgment and anticipation. The Tormishstand ever alert against corruption and are expected to strike quickly andhard against any rot in the hearts of mortals. As the sword arm of justice, theTormish are expected to bring painful, quick deaths to betrayers. They are toquestion unjust laws by suggesting improvement or alternatives, not addi-tions. Then fourfold duties are to faith, family, masters, and all good fellowbeings of Faerûn.

special candles, and pray through the night, recounting the deeds of thefallen to Torm so that none who fell may, truly be forgotten. Torm oftensends comforting dream visions to Tormtar on this night—but it is saidamong the faithful that if one sees Torm’s death in a vision, it means thatperson’s death in his service in the coming year.

Following the Time of Troubles, the religious hierarchy of Torm’s faithfulwas completely overhauled. Incensed by his followers persecution of othergoodly religions under Tenwealth’s misguided direction, Torm has dictated aSeries of responsibilities and obligations for his followers to atone for theircollective failings. These “debts” are collectively referred to as the Penanceof Duty, detailed below. Tormtar are required to actively implement and co-ordinate efforts and actions dictated by the Penance of Duty in addition tofollowing the normal tenets of their faith. Tormtar are realized to followthe Penance of Duty without fail, and, at least once every other level, servein some fashion that helps alleviate one of the debts mentioned in thePenance of Duty. The Penance of Duty is as follows:

The True Resurrection celebrates Torm’s rise anew to Dower and is ajoyous feast and revel where laws are set aside just for this one day andnight so that the Tormtar can stray from the principles of law and orderonce a year, Most use this opportunity merely to shock others by speakingfreely or by enjoying sensual pleasures with their fellow Tormtar—but afew every year employ it to bring vengeance down on someone. (For ex-ample, a noble protected against all physical punishment by the laws of arealm but who ordered others mutilated might himself be mutilated on thenight of the Resurrection.) Torm traditionally sends inspiring visions intothe dreams of all his faithful in the sleep that follows this festival—andgrants the Loyal Boon to a few, as a mark of his appreciation for their out-standing service: A new prayer is placed in their minds, granting them onechance to cast a new spell they would otherwise not be able to cast untilthey rose in experience by another level.

Shieldmeet celebrations are rituals expressing loyalty and renewingoaths and pledges. Tormtar prefer to marry, perform marriages, and finalizeapprenticeship or training agreements onthis day.

Throughout the year, faithful of Tormare expected pray to the TrueDebt of Persecution: To repay their persecution of other religions,

the truly faithful must aid other goodly religions in reestablishingthemselves.

God at least four times per day: at noon, dusk, midnight, and dawn.Prayers to Torm are uttered in a prescribed litany, which sounds like arolling chant, and ask for guidance from the Lord of Duty, Loyalty, andObedience. Since the Time of Troubles. the Penance of Duty has been in-cluded as part of the litany. To these rituals and prayers are added specialprayers said when a follower of Torm needs extra-inner strength to followorders, to do a necessary but unpleasant task, or to support an ally orfriend.

Debt of Dereliction: To atone for their abdication of duty to guardagainst strife, the Tormish must expend all possible effort to elimi-nate any surviving cults of Bane, as well as to oppose all efforts ofCyricists, Xvimists, and the Zhentarim.

Debt of Destruction: Followers of Torm are obliged to relieve thedestruction to the magic weave incurred during the Time of Trou-bles. All dead magic areas are to be reported and repaired. In addi-tion, all permanent results of the magical chaos of the Time of Trou-bles are to be similarly undone and all wild magic areas reported anderadicated.

The faithful of Torm need practice only three special rituals: Torm’sTable, Investiture, and Holy Vigil. Torm’s Table must be observed at leastonce every two months. To perform this ritual, a Tormtar purchases or pre-pares a grand meal and then turns it over to a stranger (usually a beggar orcitizen in need) to consume while they fast, waiting on the table. Withinthree days after the feast is done, the priest must confess any personal sins,failings, or shortcomings to another Tormtar priest and report on his do-Day-to-Day Activities: Tormish provide training for, give sanctuary to,

and lend support (moneys, gear, mounts, armor, and weaponry) toguardians, orders of paladinsand loyal knights, and loyal courtiers across

ings to a superior.Investiture is the solemn ceremony wherein a novice becomes a priest

or priestess. It is the duty of every Tormish priest or holy warrior within aday’s ride of the announced place of ritual to attend. The supplicant (onlyone priest is invested at each ceremony) prepares beforehand by rolling inmud or dust and then donning the oldest, filthiest clothes they can fmd orbeg for. Thus attired, she or he fasts for a day and then in the evening(after the gathered priests have feasted) is brought in to the temple andwashed clean with water by the visiting Tormtar. The supplicant is for-mally introduced to the presiding priest and accepted into the service ofTorm—provided she or he passes the Holy Vigil. All the clergy then joinin a hymn of hope, and withdraw, leaving the supplicant locked in thetemple sanctuary alone to complete the Holy Vigil.

The Holy Vigil is repeated every time an lndividual advances in rankwithin the priesthood. Before departing, the presiding priest solemnlyraises a naked bastard sword from the altar and casts it up into the air. Bythe grace of Term (and a secret spell cast beforehand), the blade rises upand moves to hang a man’s height above the 5 supplicant’s head, pointdownward. The more the supplicant gives in to fear or slumber or dwellson any doubts about his or her faith in Torm, the lower the sword slips.Though such swords move slowly enough that they rarely seriously injurewhen they touch the priest below them, the magic is broken if the sworddraws blood, and the shame of being found with a fallen sword the nextmorning is extreme. If a Vigil is thus failed, the presiding priest prays toTorm for guidance and follows the True God’s dictates: The Vigil may berepeated on the next night, or the failed one may be cast out of the churchor charged with a penance or quest.

Major Centers of Worship: The Temple of Torm’s Coming inTantras, where Torm appeared during the Time of Troubles, is a scarredand severe battle-fortress frowring down over its white granite walls (andextensive granary cellars below the ground) on the city below. The templestands hard against the inside of the north wall of the city atop the city’shighest hill. Here High Priest Barriltar Bhandraddon leads a wealthy andever-growing group of clergy members and congregation in the worship ofTorm. Barriltar’s temple sponsors knightly orders Faerûnwide and spreadsthe values of obedience and loyalty to all who will listen—and in crowded

Faerûn—and send forth agents to ferret out corruption in such groups andin all courts and organizations, particularly those who set themselves up asrighteous or having a sort of superiority or moral authority. They also watchfor impending trouble (from orc hordes and warlike realms, for instance)and young folk who could be recruited into the service of Torm or into po-sitions as loyal warriors or bodyguards. On rare occasions, they act militar-ily against forces of evil, disloyal citizens readying coup attempts, and thiev-ing or outlaw organizations.

A few adventuring Tormtar are permitted more leeway in then personaldeeds than other clergy of the faith, but in return for this personal discre-tion as to their activities, they are pledged to tithe heavily (60% or more,plus payment for magical aid) to the church and to observe and report backon all they can of regions, beasts, and concerns their brethren seldom see sothat the church of Torm can know Faerûn as well as possible (despite thestatic demands of guardianship). Torm himself often speaks to his clergymembers to provide guidance and to reassure doubtful priests that a fellowTormtar who is an adventurer is allowed to act thus and 50 in Torm’s fullfavor (or that Torm is displeased and the following penance shall be placedon the individual).

While the gods Helm and Torm may be on good terms, their priesthoodsare not. The two faiths have long been engaged in a rivalry, and its friend-liness has been waning over the years, particularly since the Time of Trou-bles. Tormtar now keep a close eye on all faithful of Helm they encounter,anticipating betrayal at any time.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: During the year, the Tormishcelebrate two great festivals (and on some years, three): the Divine Deathon the 13th of Eleasias (commemoratmg Torm’s death in battle just northof Tantras during the Time of Troubles, when he and Bane destroyed eachother), the True Resurrection on the 15th of Marpenoth (when Torm re-turned to his powers, at the end of the Godswar), and the Shieldmeet.

The Divine Death is a solemn ceremony of remembrance for all thefallen who died for lust causes, while guarding others, or in the holy ser-vice of Torm. After prayers and a huge feast, Tormtar go at dusk to thegraves or battle sites where departed ones dear to them fell or now lie, light

urban areas, such folk who dream of freedom from lawlessness, thievery,and rowdiness are many.

Temples of Torm may also be found in Eagle Peak (the Citadel of theRampant Eagle) and Procampur {the House of the Hand) and withintemples of Tyr (such as the Halls of Justice in both Neverwinter and Sund-abar), among other places. Shrines to Torm are located in Hillsfar, RavensBluff, Scornubel, and Urmlaspyr, among other cities.

Affiliated Orders: Following Torm’s rebirth, the church founded anew order of paladins, known as the Order of the Golden Lion, to serve asholy warriors of Torm. Led by First Champion of Torm Sir Dylan Lions-hand, these holy warriors are specially dedicated to actively serving thePenance of Duty, and they wander the Realms in Torm’s service. (For ex-ample, the Champion Reborn, Sir Gwydion the Quick, serves Torm by es-corting Rinda the scribe who bears the Cyrinishad.) Many members of theOrder of the Golden Lion are found guarding the temples of a wide varietyof peaceful faiths, while others embark on quests to recover lost relics ofvarious goodly gods. Failure to actively serve the letter and the spirit of thePenance of Duty by any member of this order results in the loss of paladin-hood, reclaimable only through the casting of an atonement spell and thecompletion of a difficult quest in the service of Torm set according to thegoals of the Penance of Duty.

Knights of the Order of the Golden Lion cannot advance in level with-out serving in some fashion that helps alleviate one of the debts men-tioned in the Penance of Duty. Torm rewards this faithful devotion fromtune to time by bequeathing a minor quest spell known as the lion’s roar,equivalent in effect to a great shout (as the 8th-level wizard spell with allthe attendant penalties). The ceremonial costume of the Order of theGolden Lion is the same in the field as in the temple—a full suit of well-polished battle armor with an ornate helm. The armor polish used is abright golden color.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of Torm wear clean, bright, smooth-pol-ished plate armor (or robes, a breastplate, and bracers), ornate helms, andgauntlets inscribed with the Penance of Duty. The hue of the armor (orrobes) denotes the rank of the wearer: Unadorned metal is for the Un-proven, dark crimson is for Andurans, rose red is for Faithblades, deepamber is for Wardens, sunrise orange is for Vigilants, harvest yellow is forWatchful Venturers, pale green is for Loyans, dragon green (bottle green)is for Enforcers, sky blue is for Guardians, twilight blue (deep, metallicblue) is for Knights, amethyst is for Vanguardiers, and dusky purple is forChampions, the most holy priests of the faith, as well as the greatest heroesof Torm.

Adventuring Garb: In potential combat situations, Tormtar alwayswear their best armor and weaponry. They are expected to keep theirarmor clean and brightly polished even in the worst conditions, exceptwhere such activities would interfere with the execution of their duty.

Specialty Priests (Holy Champions)REQUIREMENTS: Constitution 12, Wisdom 15PRIME REQ.: Constitution, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : LGWEAPONS: Same as clericsARMOR: AnyMAJOR SPHERESS: All, astral, combat, divination, guardian, healing, law,

protection, summoning, sunMINOR SPHERES: Charm, elemental, necromantic, travelers, weatherMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: EtiquetteBONUS PROFS: Heraldry, land-based riding (horse)l Although it is frowned on within the elf and dwarf communities, elves

and dwarves may be holy champions, as may the occasional centaur.l Holy champions must tithe 25% of their income to their home temple

or shrine, may only employ good henchmen, may only keep enoughwealth to support them in a modest manner (similar to paladins), andmay not personally possess more than 10 magical items (the same as pal-adins—though special items loaned them by their church do not countagainst this limit).

l In addition to being able to turn undead, holy champions may decideinstead to command the undead to perform certain specific tasks, suchas guarding a passageway without endangering their alignment.

l When turning undead creatures, holy champions are not limited to onlyone attempt. If they are unsuccessful on the first attempt, they may nottry to turn again. However, if they are successful, they may continue toturn once a round until they fail. This does not apply to attempts tocommand undead, which are carried out under the normal rules.

l Holy champions receive Constitution hit point adjustments to their HitDice as if they were warriors.

l Henchmen following holy champions treat them as if their Charismascores were 18 for purposes of determining loyalty, provided that thosehenchmen worship, or at least respect, Torm.

• The duration of divination and protection sphere spells is doubled whenthey are cast by holy champions. Of course, a permanent spell is stillpermanent and an instantaneous one still instantaneous.

l Holy champions are able to cast command (as the 1st-level priest spell)once per day; they gain the ability to cast an additional command at 5thlevel.

l At 3rd level, holy champions are able to cast hold portal or mount (as the1st-level wizard spells) once per day,

l At 5th level, holy champions are able to cast compel (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell) once per day.

• At 7th level, holy champions can make three melee attacks every tworounds.

• At 7th level, holy champions ate able to detect lie (as the 4th-level priestspell) once a day.

l At 10th level, holy champions are able to dispel evil or flame strike (as the5th-level priest spells) once a day.

l At 13th level, holy champions can make two melee attacks per round.l At 15th level, holy champions are able to speak power word, stun (as the

7th-level priest spell) or power word, blind (as the 8th-level wizard spell)once a day.

l At 20th level, holy champions are able to speak a holy word (as the 7th-level priest spell) once a day.

Tormish Spells3rd LevelCompel (Enchantment/Charm)Sphere: CharmRange: 30 yardsComponents: VDuration: 2 roundsCasting Time: 1Area of Effect: 1 or 2 creaturesSaving Throw: NoneThis spell enables the caster to command one or two creatures with a singleword. For the spell to be effective, it must be uttered in a language under-stood by any creature to be affected. Like the 1st-level priest spell command,targets obey to the best of their ability if and only if the command is clearand unequivocal. Similar to the command spell, a compulsion to “Die!”causes a two-round cataleptic state, not death. Typical compulsions areback, halt, flee, run, stop, fall, go, leave, surrender, sleep, and rest.

Undead are unaffected by this spell, but any two living creatures withinrange who are seen and mentally selected by the caster as the spell is castare subject to its effects. Beings having either an Intelligence of 15 orgreater or 8 or more Hit Dice or experience levels (or both) are allowed asaving throw vs. spell that is not adjusted for Wisdom. If this saving throw issuccessful, they are unaffected by the magic.

A compel governs two consecutive rounds. If the caster desires, a second,different compulsion can be uttered in the second round. If this is not done,the initial command is followed for both rounds. Note that Torm regardsuse of this spell to render foes defenseless so that they can be slain on thespot to be a sin of the gravest sort. No priest of the True God would dare todo so for fear of instantly being the target of a flame strike. In addition to thenormal effects of that spell, this divine flame strike strips them of all theirspells, casting them out of the faith.

4th LevelHand of Torm (Evocation)Sphere: GuardianRange: 40 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 hour/levelCasting Tune: 7Area of Effect: 12-foot-radius sphereSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell is an improved form of the wyvern watch magic. It was developedlong ago by priests of Torm and is often used to defend sacred areas, such asthe treasure chambers in the temple in Tantras.

A hand of Torm creates a shimmering, translucent image of a giganticgauntleted human hand that is cupped so as to define a spherical area. It is

typically used to guard that area against intrusion. Any sighted creature ap-proaching the image readily sees it. Any creature bearing a symbol sacred toTorm can to pass through the hand and the sphere it defines without effect.Any other creature who approaches the guarded area feels a warning prick-ling in the air, an almost electric tension.

If the guarded area is entered, the intruding creature feels a solid forceresisting its forward movement. The creature must make a successful savingthrow vs. paralyzation at a -3 penalty to continue forward into the pro-tected area and a second successful saving throw vs. paralyzation at a -3penalty to pass out of the guarded area at any other point except at the oneentered. Failure of this Strength check causes the creature to beparalyzedfor one turn per level of the caster or until freed by the caster, whicheveroccurs first.

Any creature without a holy symbol of Torm who attempts to pass an areaguarded by a hand of Torm is also slowed so as to require 2 rounds to enter orexit. Regardless of the results of the saving throw vs. paralyzation, the intrudermust also make a saving throw vs. spell for each of these rounds. A successfulsaving throw means no damage is inflicted on the intruder. Failure indicatesthat a crushing, constricting force squeezes the intruder for 1d6 points of dam-age inthat round.Observers see theimage of the hand closing about the in-truder, but this is a visual effect only; a hand of Torm can constrict and hamperthe progress of more than one creature within its confines at any one time.

Any number of creatures can be affected by a hand of Torm without dis-sipating or exhausting it until its duration expires normally. A successfuldispel magic destroys it instantly.

The material component of the spell is the priest’s holy symbol (which isnot consumed in the casting).

6th LevelBolt of Glory (Invocation/Evocation)Sphere: Combat, SummoningRange:Components:

20 yards

V, S, MDuration: InstantaneousCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: ½

By casting this spell, the priest channels a bolt of divine energy against onecreature. No attack roll is needed. Creatures struck suffer varying damage,depending on their home plane of existence and nature.

A saving throw vs. spell is allowed for half damage. For denizens of theLower Outer Planes (fiends), undead creatures, and Negative MaterialPlane creatures, such a saving throw is made with a -2 penalty.

Creature�s Home Plane DamagePrime Material Plane 5d6Elemental Planes or Outer Planes of Neutrality 5d4(Arcadia, Mechanus, Acheron, Ysgard, Limbo, Pandemonium)Positive Material Plane or Outer Planes of Good None(Mount Celestia, Bytopia, Elysium, the Beastlands, Arborea)Outer Planes of Evil, undead creatures 10d6(Baator, Gehenna, the Gray Waste, Carceri, the Abyss)Negative Material Plane 15d6Astral or Ethereal Plane 4d6

The material component of this spell is a small amber rod banded withbronze.

Swordward (Alteration, Evocation, Necromancy)Sphere: Protection, NecromanticRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round + 1 round/levelCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: 5 to 60 square feetSaving Throw: NoneThis spell creates a guardian effect in a clearly defined area of shimmeringsilver-gray air. Within its confines, all points of damage done to foes by theattacks of lawful good-aligned beings are gamed as extra (or replace lost)hit points by the attacking lawful good beings. Moreover, all edged weaponswielded against lawful good individuals strike at a -3 penalty on attack rollsand a -3 penalty to every die rolled for damage rolls (for example, 2d6+3becomes 2d6+3-6). The caster can choose to make the swordward fill anyarea between 5 and 60 square feet, but its potency is unaffected by the sizeof its coverage.

A swordward cannot coexist with a blade barrier. If either spell is cast so asto come into contact with any part of the area of effect of the other, bothspell effects vanish instantly in a thunderous explosion, and all beings in theformer areas of effect of both spells take 6d12 points of blast damage; thisdamage is halved if they make a successful saving throw vs. spell. All itemsin the same area in such an event must make successful item saving throwsvs. magical fire or be destroyed+ Any beings located in the overlap areawhere the two spells met are allowed no saving throw, and items in that areamust make successful saving throws vs. disintegration, not magical fire.

The material components of a swordward are an edged weapon or a frag-ment of a blade from an edged weapon that has drawn blood in battle, apiece of lodestone, and an amethyst of at least 5 gp value.

Tymora(Lady Luck, the Lady Who Smiles, Our Smiling Lady,Tyche�s Fair-Haired Daughter)Intermediate Power of Arborea, CGPORTFOLIO: Good fortune, skill, victory, adventurers, and adventur-

ingALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Olympus/BrightwaterSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Lathander, Selûne, ShaundakulFO E S: Beshaba, Bane (now dead), Moander (now dead)SYMBOL: A shining, featureless disk of silverWOR. ALIGN.: A n y

Tymora (Tie-MORE-ah) is sometimes called Tyche’sfair-haired or fair-tressed daughter or Beshaba’sbright sister, but these are more poetic titles thandesignations of her maternal lineage or her haircolor. In actuality, Tymora is half of the deity onceknown as Tyche, with Beshaba being the other half.Tymora inherited Tyche’s grace and kindness when

that goddess split into two beings in the Dawn Cataclysm, a war among thegods that long preceded the Time of Troubles and is said to have heraldedthe fall of Myth Drannor. Beshaba garnered more of Tyche’s wanton, willfulnature, sensual side, and restless energy.

Tymora’s faith is one of the most common in the Faerûn, in particularsince it caters most heavily to a highly mobile, relatively wealthy, and in-trinsically powerful group who live by their wits and by their luck: adven-turers. Tymora is fickle but playful and never vengeful or malicious. Shelikes a good joke and has been known to play an occasional practical jokeon some of the more straight-laced Faerûnian deities, such as Helm andTyr. She is reputed by sages to have had short-lived romances with severalof the good male deities of Faerûn, but these ended amicably on both sidesafter a short while. She likes merriment and festive occasions and rumorsabound at gaming houses throughout Faerûn of people who spotted her atthe tables during one holiday or another, laughing and having a good timewith all.

Tymora�s Avatar (Cleric 32, Mage 28, Fighter 15)Tymora rarely walks Faerûn in avatar form, but when she does appear, herlooks vary. Before the Time of Troubles, she appeared as a boyish, crafty-faced, brunette tomboy. Since appearing in the Lady’s House in Arabel dur-ing the Godswar, she has preferred the form of a tall, thin, graceful womanwith long, flowing, unbound, platinum blond hair and eyes like blue-blackstars in a kind and regal face. Her voice is musical and never rises or be-comes harsh. She draws her spells from any school or sphere, but when aspell is reversible, if one of the two forms has a beneficial or healing effect,Tymora can only cast that form of the spell.

AC -4; MV 15, Fl 24; HP 193; THAC0 0; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d8+6 (silver long sword +3, +1 STR, +2 spec. bonus in long sword)MR 70%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 16, DEX 25, CON 20, INT 23, WIS 22, CHA 18Spells P: 13/13/13/12/11/9/8, W: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Tymora arms herself with a blade of silver that flows asa silver tear from her eye and then shapes itself into a long sword +3 inmidair when she so desires. On the rare occasions that she lends one of herswords to a mortal who is performing her a service or undertakmg a greatquest in her name, the sword functions as a sword +1, luck blade with no

more than three wishes. It disappears when the last wish is used or when theundertaking is successfully accomplished.

Tymora never misses a saving throw and spells cast upon her or with herin their area of effect automatically do minimum damage. Once a round, shecan either make herself automatically strike for maximum damage or haveone of her spells do maximum damage, last for maximum duration, and af-fect the maximum number of targets. Her voice can carry a hundred miles ormore when she wishes. Within 100 yards of her avatar, all games of chanceare won by ridiculously improbable combinations of scoring or against enor-mous odds, any accidents that happen turn out to have been fortuitous oc-currences after all, and beings of her faith receive a +1 bonus on all savingthrows and a 5% magic resistance (or % bonus to any magic resistance theymay already have).

Tymora is immune to all illusions, charm spells and spell-like effects, andpowers that would dominate her mind or control her will or emotions. Sheis also immune to all priest spells from the spheres of numbers, thought,chaos, law, and time and all wild magic wizard spells, which when cast inher presence she is automatically able to twist to having wild surges withbeneficial or healing effects on her or her allies and no beneficial effects onor for the caster whatsoever.

Other ManifestationsWhen manifesting on Faerûn, Tymora often takes the form of a silver birdor a silver pegasus. She also sends servant creatures to aid mortals in theseshapes, as well as those of einheriar, faerie dragons, foo lions, swanmays,and unicorns. When showing her favor for a particularly blessed gambler,she has sometimes been known to manifest as a silver glow about a gamblerthat is evident only to that person and not those around him or her. Whenthis happens, something favorable will happen in regard to the wager,whether it is the wagerer being more likely to win or even the best beingforced to be called off, in cases where the bet was rigged by the opposition.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, mysticsCLERGY�S ALIGN.: N, CN, NG, CGTURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Mys: NoCMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Mys: NoAll clerics, specialty priests, and mystics of Tymora receive religion(Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Tymora is an extremely popular goddess among adventurers, and hertemples may be found wherever there is a strong adventuring population.Lady Luck is beloved of those who live or work in danger, for she rewards thefaithful and others who live in the manner she deems proper�daring all andtrusting to chance�with her favor: good luck. The Lady�s ways may seemfickle to the uninitiated or nonbelievers, for by her very nature the supportshe gives is uncertain in all particulars. �The joy of the doubt and the danger,�also known as the Lady�s Joy and the Lady�s Way, is that which is most dear toher true followers. Many pay her lip service in times of need; her answers thenseem truly random, for the Lady helps those who help themselves.

Tymora�s priests are the first choice of a badly wounded adventuring partydragging itself into town, and as a result, the church is relatively wealthy.With that wealth comes a strong independent streak among the differentchurches of Tymora. Each Tymoran temple is its own independent operationwith its own clergy, and each temple reflects the tastes of its high priestess orpriest. A large network of shrines and temples to Lady Luck has spreadthroughout the heartlands of Faerûn. While the shining, featureless diskthat is Tymora�s symbol most often marks these houses of worship as belong-ing to the Lady Who Smiles, in some temples, Tymora�s symbol is repre-sented as a floating, randomly and slowly turning sphere of everbright silver.

In the face of the independent tradition of the organized Tymoran faithhas come an attempt in the recent past to unify the church under a grandpatriarch in the manner of the old faith of Oghma. Leading this suggestionis Daramos Lauthyr, High Priest of the Lady�s House in Arabel. It was inLauthyr�s temple where Tymora manifested during the Time of Troubles,and she remained there, protecting the city with her power, during theworst of that time. The other churches have been extremely resistant toproclaiming the Arabellan church the center of Tymoran faith.

Both sexes and all races are equal in the eyes of Tymora and her clergy,though in practice human women occupy most of the more exalted ranks ofthe priesthood. Of the nonhuman races, a few elves and half-elves have de-cided to become Tymoran clergy even in the face of the chilly receptionsuch a calling receives in elven society. Mystics of Tymora serve bothwithin temple ranks and as itinerant servants of the goddess who report tonone but her (though Daramos would like to change this).

The Fateful Coin

Othe air�the moon (heads) or the cloak (tails). If Beshaba is right, that person is

cursed with misfortune for the rest of his or her days. If she�s wrong, Lady Luck

smiles on that child for the rest of his or her life. For some rare beings, the coin

lands edge on�and these luckless few can forge their own fates, for they have

more freedom over their destinies than the powers themselves.

Id tales tell that luck plays a crucial role in each person�s life. When each

new-born baby enters into the Realms, Tymora flips a coin formed from

the remnants of the original goddess of luck, Tyche. Beshaba calls it in

Among the followers of Tymora titles are used and changed with easeand informality, but �Lord Priest� and �Lady Priestess� are respectful formsof address that apply to all, and �High� is added in front of this for clergy se-nior in years or in demonstrated power, who are referred to as �the High.� A�favored of Tymora� is a being chosen by the goddess to enter her clergy. A�fallen of Tymora� is one who has left her service and spurned chances foratonement and forgiveness. An �Atalara� is a priestess of Tymora whosebody has at some time or other been directly possessed by the goddess so asto act and speak for her, which usually changes all body hair to a deep blue,and the pupils of the eyes to bright silver.

Dogma: Tymora�s faith teaches that one should be bold, for to dare isto live. The battle cry of the followers of Tymora is �Fortune favors thebold.� A brave heart and willingness to take risks beat out a carefullywrought plan nine times out of ten. One must place oneself in the hands offate (meaning in the hands of Tymora) and trust to one�s own luck.

Tymoran clergy are told that the Lady�s own luck never fails. If she ap-pears to mortals as a victim of mischance or misfortune, she is doubtlesscausing this state of affairs as a deliberate test. Clergy members shouldknow this, but not speak of it to those not in the Lady�s service. Priests ofTymora should bear and conduct themselves as their own masters, showingtheir good fortune�and acceptance of bad fortune�as a confidence inthe Lady and in themselves. Lady Luck bids that each mortal chase his orher own unique goals, and it is in this chase that the Lady aids. Those whohave no direction or goals soon know the embrace of the Lady�s dark sister,Beshaba, for those on no set course are at the capricious mercy of misfor-tune, which is no mercy at all.

Day-to-Day Activities: The clergy of the Lady go throughout Faerûnurging folk to take chances and pursue their dreams, and to not spend alltheir days planning and daring nothing. (They do not, as some folk say, en-courage folk to indulge in reckless whims and frivolity.) Having offeredsuch counsel, Tymoran clergy are duty bound to aid those who have daredwith healing spells and other magical aid (sometimes surreptitiously) so asto reinforce the message of the good fortune one can win by trusting inTymora.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The church of Tymora has noset rituals, and ceremonies and duties vary widely from temple to temple�but the clergy headed by Daramos Lauthyr of Arabel seem to be steadilyorganizing and imposing order on the previously freewheeling priesthoodof the goddess.

Whatever their differences throughout the years, the clergy of Tymorahave always adhered to rituals of greeting, touching their silver disks (theholy symbols of Tymora) to each other (and often embracing to do so)after watchwords of recognition have been exchanged. To unknown per-sons and beings they know to be worshipers of Tymora, but possibly laity,they say: �Life is short. Live it as Tymora means it to be lived!� This is an-swered by: �Dare all, and trust in the Lady.� The watchwords betweenfriends, or when both parties know each other to be clergy of Tymora, aresimpler: �Defy,� answered by �Dare much.�

Midsummer is the most important festival of Tymora�a wild, night-long revel of reckless, mischievous derring-do and romantic trysts. It is atime for the wandering clergy to gather and meet with Harpers, those of al-lied faiths, and relatives. Many missions and plans are laid at such times.

The most holy festival of Tymora is Starfall, which occurs on the 22ndday of Marpenoth which is believed by the followers of Tymora�thoughnot by the rival clergy of Beshaba�to be the date of Tyche�s destructionand Tymora�s birth. On this date, clergy who have earned advancementare formally acclaimed and presented with tokens and vestments appropri-ate to their new station.

Major Centers of Worship: During the Time of Troubles, Tymora�searthly avatar appeared in Arabel (after her furious, drawn battle with Be-shaba) and stayed in her temple there, which created a great sensation inCormyr. The fact that Arabel was spared most of the destruction visited onWaterdeep, Tantras, and other cities during the Godswar was taken as a

boon from the goddess herself. With the end of the Godswar a thick fogcovered Arabel, and when it lifted, the goddess had gone with it.

High Priest Daramos Lauthyr now leads a growing Assembly of theFaithful at the Lady’s House, the temple of Tymora in Arabel. Daramos isattempting to codify and record a set of rules for the clergy using his influ-ence as the head of the temple Tymora dwelt in during the Time of Trou-bles. The rest of the Tymoran clergy are strongly resisting any such restric-tive regimen. Most agree to the wisdom and preeminent rank of Daramos,but not to a written set of laws. They are also strongly resisting Daramos’sclaims that the seat of the Tymoran faith ought to be the Lady’s House andits leader should head the church.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Tymora has a continuing relation-ship with the Harpers, a secret society working for good through Faerûnand involving members of many races, classes, and other faiths. Thechurch sponsors some adventuring companies, and countless adventuringgroups have independently dedicated themselves to Lady Luck after shehas smiled on them in a sticky situation. A special fellowship of clergywithin the church itself, the Fellows of Free Fate (or Triffs, as they are col-loquially known), have dedicated themselves to countering the efforts ofBeshaba, and especially of the Black Fingers, her assassins. Any clergymember may join who shows experience, dedication to the cause, and isvouched for by a senior Fellow.

Priestly Vestments: The standard clerical dress varies from temple totemple, ranging from full habits and headpieces in Arabel to simple robesin Shadowdale. Blue and silver are colors often seen. Personal taste of thematriarch or patriarch influences the dress code, as does climate (naturaland political) and availability of fine clothing. The common item worn byall clergy is the disk of Tymora, usually carried on a small chain.

Adventuring Garb: All adventuring ortraveling clergy members wearwhatever garments theyplease, though thecolors blue and silver are stillpredominant. High boots also seem favorite fashion elements. All priestscontinue to wear Tymora’s silver disk next to their skin, usually as a medal-lion worn around the neck; however, many clergy also wear smaller holysymbols as anklets, bracelets, or at their hips, under their clothing.

Specialty Priests (Luckbringers)REQUIREMENTS: Dexterity 14, Wisdom 15PRIME REQ.: Dexterity, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : C GW E A P O N S: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: A n yMAJOR SPHERESS: All, chaos, charm, creation, divination, healing, necro-

mantic, protection, summoning, travelersM INOR SPHERES: Guardian, sun, wards, weatherMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: NoneBONUS PROFS: Gaming• The faith of Tymora is popular among halflings, in particular halfling

adventurers. Halflings may become luckbringers.• Once per day, a luckbringer may raise one die roll of any type by one (a

1 becomes 2, 17 becomes 18, etc.). This modification must be announcedbefore the dice are rolled. The modified result is considered the true num-ber rolled.

• At 3rd level, luckbringers have the ability to cast moment (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 5th level, luckbringers have the ability to cast favor of Tymora (asthe 2nd-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 7th level, luckbringers have the ability to cast feat (as the 4th-levelpriest spell), probability control (as the 4th-level priest spell), or lower re-sistance (as the 5th-level wizard spell) once a day.

• At 10th level, luckbringers have the ability to cast luckbolt (as the 6th-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 15th level, luckbringers have the ability to automatically succeed atone saving throw that would avert an unfortunate or damaging effectfor themselves once a day. They must declare the use of this abilityrather than roll for the saving throw.

Alternatively, through the use of this ability, they may obtain a sav-ing throw of 15 for such harmful effects that do not normally allow say-ing throws. Success indicates half damage if the effect generates dam-age and negation of the effect if it does not; if the effect generates dam-age and special effects (such as 6d6 points of damage and paralyzation),the damage is halved and the special effects negated. Note that in themain, this allows for saving throws against spells, magical item effects,and spell-like abilities that do not normally allow saving throws. How-

ever, it can also be used to give a luckbringer a saving throw vs. the life-draining effect of one successful attack of a life-draining creature. Ifsuccessful, no life drain occurs.

l At 20th level, luckbringers have the ability to ask Tymora for divine in-spiration (as the 7th-level priest spell) once a tenday.

Tymoran Spells2nd LevelFavor of Tymora (Abjuration)Sphere: ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 5Area of Effect: One living creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell (also known as “Tymora’s Smile”) confers a protection upon asingle living recipient creature that cannot be ended by dispel magic or othermagical effects. It lasts until the death of the recipient creature or until itspower is exhausted by use. The church of Beshaba employs a reversed formof this spell known as the bane of Beshaba. The spells favor of Tymora andbane of Beshaba automatically cancel each other out if cast on the samecreature, regardless of how many saving throws the first spell to be cast hasaffected.

A priest of Tymora must physically touch the spell recipient with a barehand to cast this spell, requiring a successful attack roll if the recipient is inbattle or unwilling. The favor of Tymora confers bonuses upon the savingthrows of the recipient it affects. The first saving throw made by the recipi-ent after the spell is successfully cast is made at a +4 bonus, even if it takesplace later in the same round as the spell took effect. The second savingthrow after the spell takes effect is at a +3 bonus, the next at a +2 bonus,and the following one at a +1 bonus. After the four enhanced saving throwsoccur, the magic is exhausted.

Tymora does not allow her favor to be granted to the same creature morethan once in any day unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as acharacter championing Tymora’s cause in open battle. Any attempt to castTymora’s favor more than once a day on a nonworshiper of Tymora auto-matically fails.

Creatures faithful to Tymora are looked upon with disfavor if they re-quest the bestowal of a favor of Tymora more than twice in any tenday; torely directly on the goddess is not to trust in her luck. This includes priestsof Tymora, who may have to atone for any use of this spell on themselvesthat exceeds this rate.

4th LevelFeat (Alteration)Sphere: Al lRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One touched creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell allows the caster or another touched recipient being to success-fully carry out one extremely difficult action or single-step task—in otherwords, any necessary ability checks and those proficiency checks not in-volving protracted activity (such as say, constructing a suit of armor) auto-matically succeed. The magic does not perform the activity for the beingand does not protect the being from any risk or damage associated with thetask, but merely guarantees that the specified thing to be done will be car-ried out. Even if the spell recipient dies in the attempt, his or her body willcomplete the action. Typical feats include swinging or leaping through asmall specific window or opening, catching a small thrown object, fallinginto a stream or hole or other particular location, firing an arrow througha keyhole, and such. The act must be performed on the round followingthe casting of the feat for the magic to work; otherwise, the magic is wastedand lost.

6th LevelLuckbolt (Conjuration/Summoning, Evocation)Sphere: Combat, ProtectionRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S

Duration: 4 rounds

Casting Time: 9 Tyr�s Avatar (Fighter 38, Cleric 25)Area of Effect: One beingSaving Throw: NoneThis spell can be used by the caster directly or fired at a chosen creature asa silvery-blue bolt that cannot miss and can follow around corners,through teleports and the like, and so on to any location on the sameplane. If the recipient being is not the caster, the recipient must be viewedby the caster, either directly or through some means of scrying, as the luck-bolt is cast. If a priest casts luckbolt on himself or herself, it surrounds thepriest with a silvery-blue aura for 1 round. In addition, luckbolt affects thespell recipient as follows:

On the round after contact, the affected being automatically strikes formaximum damage plus 1610 points in all attacks it Iaunches that success-fully hit, and the spell recipient is successful in all ability checks, profi-ciency checks that can be completed in a round, and saving throws.

On the second round, the affected being receives a +6 bonus on all at-tack rolls and deals maximum damage plus 1d8 points. The spell recipientalso receives a +4 bonus to all saving throws, proficiency checks that can becompleted in a round, and ability checks.

On the third round, the affected being receives a +3 bonus on all attackrolls, a 1d6 bonus on all damage done, and receives a +2 bonus to all savingthrows, proficiency checks that can be completed in a round, and abilitychecks.

On the fourth round, the affected being receives a +2 bonus on all attackrolls, a 1d4 bonus on all damage done, and a +1 bonus to all saving throws,proficiency checks that can be completed in a round, and ability checks.

It is considered a sin for a priest of Tymora to use a luckbolt as a personalald when companions—particularly other worshipers of Tymora—are ingreater danger.

Tyr(The Even-Handed, Grimjaws, the Maimed God,the Blind Overlord, the Wounded One, the Just God)Greater Power of Mount Celestia and Ysgard, LGPORTFOLIO: JusticeALIASES: Anachtyr (Calimshan)

Tyr appears as a fearless, burly, bearded warrior in light armor who is miss-ing his right hand. He does not disguise or bandage the stump and is al-ways armed with a magical long sword or war hammer. His eyes are a fiercesteel-gray when he first appears, but always fade away to leave black,empty sockets before he vanishes. His brow is continuously surrounded byan imperial white radiance that marks him as divine to all. He can castspells from all spheres except the reverse forms of necromantic spherespells. He casts all spells from the law sphere at triple normal effect in allrespects and a -3 penalty to any applicable saving throws.

AC -5; MV 15; HP 231; THAC0 -10; #AT 5/2 or 2/1Dmg 1d8+14 or 1d4+13 (long sword of sharpness+3, war hammer +3, +9 Str, +2 spec.

bonus with long sword)MR 65%; SZ L (10 feet)

STR 22, DEX 19, CON 21, INT 19, Wis 18, CHA 17

Spells P: 11/11/10/10/9/8/4

Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 6

Special Att/Def: Tyr recognizes mortals of the rogue class for whatthey are on sight. He can also see invisible objects or people, know align-ment, and detect lie at will. These three abilities are also possessed by hissword, a long sword of sharpness +3 said to have been dispensed to him byAo or Tyr’s predecessor, who had Mystra assist in its making. His war ham-mer +3 works as a mace of disruption against undead creatures. He is im-mune to all illusion/phantasm spells and magical effects and to any sort offear or emotion-control magic.

Other ManifestationsTo denote his favor or the occurrence of important deeds, decisions, or ut-terances, Tyr frequently manifests as the echoing, stroke of a gong, accom-panied by an exultant wordless chord sung by unseen male voices Tyr alsoshows his will through the image of an upright, glowing war hammer ac-companied by telekenesis effects that demonstrate the god’s intent and feel-ings. The hammer may also move, point, strike, or emit spells to further thewill of Tyr. In addition, Tyr sometimes acts through extremely obedient, in-telligent, large, and well-groomed war dogs that appear out of nowhere.

The ChurchDOMAIN NAME: Lunia/The Court and Ysgard/AsgardSUPERIOR: NoneALLIES: Ilmater, Torm, LathanderFOES: Mask, Tales, Bane (now dead), Bhaal (now dead), Cyric,

TalonaSYMBOL : A balanced set of scales set upon the head of an upright

war hammerWOR. ALIGN.: LG, NG, LN

When he is depicted in religious art, Tyr (TEER) ap-pears as a noble warrior missing his right hand, lostto Kezef the Chaos Hound in proving his resilienceand strength of spirit. In recent years, he has beenshown blinded as well, a fatality of the wrath of Aoduring the Time of Troubles. Tyr’s symbol shows hisnature: justice through benevolent force and armedvigilance. He opposes all beings who deal in trick-

ery, rule-breaking, and unjust destruction or misdeeds. He is said to be alatecomer among the powers of Faerûn, appearing over a millennium agobut after most other Realms powers had established themselves. His faith ispopular, as everyone knows exactly what Tyr expects his faithful to do andeveryone can trust Tyrrans to be honorable, honest, lust, and righteous.

Tyr is rather enigmatic to those outside his faith. He represents such sternjustice that it is difficult to see the more subtle qualities of the god. He is acourageous father figure to his faithful and struggles continually to achievefor his followers a paradisiacal state of affairs in Faerûn that he knows willnever come in an imperfect world. In his more affectionate moods, he some-times refers to his abode in Lunia as the Just House, and one senses from bunat times an odd sort of longing to want to be able to deal with troubles as onecould among a perfect family: with love, courage, and the knowledge thateveryone will try their best and not betray their fellows because of a specialbond that all share. Unfortunately, he also knows that this will never hap-pen, and so emits an undercurrent of stem sadness for what can never be. Heis terribly protective of his priesthood, and because of this, he is more likelyto manifest in some form to aid them than many other powers.

Torm and Ilmater serve Tyr, and the three deities are sometimes calledthe Triad.

CLERGY: Specialty priestsCLERGY’ S ALIGN.: LGTURN UNDEAD: SP: YesCMND. UNDEAD: SP: NoAll specialty priests of Tyr receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus non-weapon proficiency.

While some paladins preferring, a a straight black-and-white choice re-vere Tyr, he is most popular with the bureaucrats, judges, and merchantswho make the entire system move efficiently. Worshipers of Tyr see theworld in clear-cut moral terms; they like to see Faerûn firmly cleansed andordered by laws that are evenly and diligently applied. They are not verytolerant of other world views and do not find parody, mockery, or evenquestions about their faith amusing. Tyr survives very well in the civilizedworld, and moat of his temples are in larger cities. He is also worshiped onthe Rock of Bral, rumored to be one of the Tears of Selûne.

Tyr had no specialty priests for over 10 years after the Time of Troubles.Sages theorize that he wished to favor none of his clergy members (over theothers. Recently, all clerics of Tyr received a stern vision from their god inwhich he stated that he had seen that other faiths were mocking the hardway of justice with their divinely granted special favors and that theTyrran church had served nobly and struggled valiantly against the heightof such odds. In reward for their perseverance under such conditions, Tyrdeclared that henceforth all clergy of Tyr would have special powers to aidthem in their enforcement of Justice. All priests of Tyr are therefore spe-cialty priests after the Feast of the Moon in 1369 DR.

The Church of Tyr is a highly organized, formal priesthood that main-tains internal rules and a system of fortified temples. At Tyrran temples,the faithful can find lodging, fresh mounts, healing, spell aid, weapons,gear, and holy advice. If a worshiper or priest knows that she or he hasstinted in service to the Just One, confession and penance are also availableable. Level titles used by the clergy in recent years, in order of ascendingrank, are: Acolyte of Lairs, Solemn Brother/Sister, Lawkeeper, Sword ofTyr, Hammer of Tyr, Vigilant Watcher, Just Captain, Avenger, MasterAvenger, Abbot, High Lord Abbot, High Avenger, Knight Commander,Hammer Lord, Defender of Justice, and Keeper of the Balance. Mavericktitles are few indeed, as this is a closely regulated priesthood.

Dogma: Novices of Tyr are charged to: “Reveal the truth, punish theguilty, right the wrong, and be always true and just in your actions.” Tyrand his followers are devoted to the cause of justice, to the righting ofwrongs and the deliverance of just vengeance. This is not necessarilyequality or fairness, as some make the maimed god out to represent, butrather the discovery of truth and the punishment of the guilty. Tyrranstend to be stiff-necked about theology and to see matters in black andwhite terms.

Clergy of Tyr are sworn to uphold the law wherever they go, and topunish those wronged under the law. They are to keep complete records oftheir own rulings, deeds, and decisions. Through these records, a priest’serrors can be corrected, his or her grasp of the laws of all lands can growand flourish, and lawbreakers can be identified by others. No known injus-tice done by a Tyrran priest must go unbalanced. Priests of Tyr should alsoalways be vigilant in their observations and anticipations, seeking to seewhat forces and which beings intend or will cause injustices and threatenlaw and order in the future. They should then act to prevent such chal-lenges to justice in coming to pass. In short: Abide by the laws, and let noothers break them. Mete out punishment where lawbreaking occurs.

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of Tyr serve as judge, jury, and execu-tioner in wilderness areas where there is no law hut that of the sword.When doing so, their code cleaves fairly close to “an eye for an eye, a toothfor a tooth,” but does adhere to common trade custom leavened by “themercy of ignorance.” This last means that if a being is truly ignorant of theproper behavior, minor transgressions can be forgiven once with a warning,an explanation of the proper law—and a record of the warning being writ-ten down in the priest’s Book of Lawgiving for later distribution to otherTyrrans so that the particular being will not be forgiven a second time.

In civilized areas, Tyrrans (inevitably called “tyrants” behind theirbacks by nonbelievers) become legal experts and serve as the lawyers ofFaerûn by dispensing advice and “speaking for” accused persons in trials.The fees they charge go to the Church of Tyr.

Tyrrans often go about lecturing others on their shortcomings as to fol-lowing laws, rules, and regulations, but they also serve to fearlessly takecomplaints about such formalities to the authorities who make such rules.No Tyrran will enforce a law that contradicts other laws or can be shownto be unjust. Note the concern IS not that it is unfair, but unjust — definedin the Tyrran church as out of compliance with the principles and defini-tion\ adhered to by other laws in the body of legal doctrine of which it is apart. Priests of Tyr also have the duty of delivering just vengeance as pun-ishment on the part of those who cannot do it themselves. Tyrrans under-take formal missions to do this, making promises to those to be avengedand forcing open confrontations with those the vengeance is to be visitedupon, rather than working behind the scenes or employing intrigue.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The priesthood of Tyr follows amonthly cycle of high rituals, beginning with Seeing Justice on the firstday of each month, the Maiming on the thirteenth day of the month, andthe Blinding on the twenty-second day of each month. These major ritualsinvolve chanted prayers, thunderously sung hymns to the god, and con-jured illusions: a gigantic war hammer that glows blinding white hangingover the heads of the congregation at Seeing Justice; at the Maiming, a gi-gantic right hand that bursts into view above the congregation surroundedby a nimbus of burning blood, then tumbles away into darkness and fadesfrom view; and two eyes that burst into fountains of flaming tears untilthey have entirely spilled away and are gone at the Blinding. Early in theceremony of the Blinding, symbolic blindfolds of diaphanous damask arebound over the eyes of the celebrants by clergy to remind the worshipers ofTyr’s blindness.

In addition to the high rituals, Tyrrans celebrate daily rituals of prayerto the god, which take the form of a sung invocation, a series of responsiveprayers led by a senior cleric, a short sermon of instruction or reading ofwisdom from the Sacred Judgments of Tyr, and a rousing closing anthem.In temples and abbeys dedicated to the god, such rituals are celebratedevery two hours around the clock, with the most important offices takingplace at dawn, highsun (noon), the equivalent of six o’clock, and theequivalent of nine o’clock. The dawn ritual, The Awakening, is a gentle,uplifting renewal of faith. The noonday ritual, the Hammer at Highsun, isa stirring, exultant expression of the church’s vigilance and martial might.The evenfeast ritual, High Justice, is a stern, proud celebration of Tyr’scommandments and the church’s purpose. The evening ritual, the Re-membrance of the Just Fallen, is a haunting, softly chanted reverence forthose who have laid down their lives for justice, both inside and outsidethe faith—a ritual of quiet dignity and respect that always leaves manywitnesses, even those who do not follow Tyr, in tears.

Major Centers of Worship: The Fortress Faithful in Tethyr, south ofZazesspur, is probably the most important temple of Tyr at the moment, asclergy of the Just God are converging on it to help restore law and order towar-torn Tethyr. They work in large, well-armed patrols sent out of thecastle-abbey.

More holy, older, and supreme in the well-ordered hierarchy of thechurch of Tyr, however, is the House of Tyr’s Hand in Milvarune, in Thesk.The House is the home of the Just Knights, heavy cavalry whose gleamingarmor and lowered lances are the last sights many an invading warrior ofThay has seen. Some sages have called this superb army “the Simbul’s leastlikely yet staunchest allies” because of their efficiency in hurling backThayan armies over the years.

Also of note is the one known Tyrran temple in Realmspace not on thesurface of Abeir-Toril. The Tyrran church on Bra1 (one of the Tears ofSelûne) is known as the Pantheist Temple of Tyr. Its clergy and ceremoniesconform to the standards of the Torilian faith, but its priests worship Tyr asa warrior god as well one of justice. They consider Tyr the patron of all goodwarriors. Pantheistic priests of Tyr recognize any lawful good deity of justiceor war as an avatar of their deity and often gain access to spells in manycrystal spheres that do not know Tyr by that name. As a deity of justice, Tyris not very popular in Bral, which is known as a pirate haven. The priests ofthe temple feel obligated to take on crime and injustice wherever they findit, and this has led to several small, crusading wars. Priests of Tyr and lawfulgood warriors from any crystal sphere find a warm welcome at the Panthe-ist Temple of Tyr, although they may have a hard time adjusting to the ideapromoted here that Tyr goes by different names in different places.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Tyr has many affiliated knightly or-ders. Individual temples often have special orders or companies attached tothem or supported by them, such as the Just Knights of the House of Tyr’sHand in Milvarune, mentioned above. Two church-sponsored orders of pal-adins are the Knights of Holy Judgment and the Knights of the MercifulSword. The first order tends to attract those who emphasize the “lawful” intheir alignment, and the second the “good.” Knights from either order mayjoin an elite order of paladins (of 7th or greater experience level) known asthe Hammers of Grimjaws.

To join the Hammers, a paladin must be nominated by a member of theHammers, and his or her nomination must be seconded by a senior priest ofTyr. If both these requirements are met, she or he must stand vigil in theholy sanctuary of a temple of Tyr all night. If the paladin is judged worthyby Tyr, Tyr sends the paladin a vision of his war hammer. If no vision ap-pears, the paladin is deemed yet too inexperienced, but not a failure, andmay he nominated again after some time has passed. If Tyr sends a vision ofhis sword, the paladin has knowingly or unknowingly failed Tyr in someway and must immediately complete a quest to atone. If the quest is com-pleted, Tyr is pleased and forgives, and the knight is admitted into theHammers. There is no quitting a quest under these conditions; either thepaladin succeeds or dies trying.

Priestly Vestments: The vestments of Tyr are blue and purple robeswith a white sash. A white glove or gauntlet is worn on the left hand and ablack one on the right to symbolize the loss of the god’s right hand.

Adventuring Garb: For everyday use, most priests of Tyr wear armor orpractical clothing adorned on the shoulders and back with the symbol ofthe hammer and scales of Tyr.

SpeciaIty Priests (Holy Justices)REQUIREMENTS: Strength 9, Wisdom 9PRIME REQ.: Strength, WisdomA L I G N M E N T : LGWEAPONS: All bludgeoning weapons, long sword, and bastard swordARMOR: A n yM AJOR SPHERESS: Al l , astral, charm, combat, creation, divination,

guardian, healing, law, necromantic, protection, sum-moning, sun, wards, war

M INOR SPHERES: ElementalMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: EtiquetteBONUS PROFS: Local history, ancient history (of their native land)l Holy justices know the laws and legal codes of the land they live in and the

land they were raised in (which may be two different lands). They auto-matically know all commonly known and uncommonly known Informa-tion within that body of law and its attendant procedures. lf asked to callto mind an incredibly obscure point of the law of their homeland or nativeland, they may make an ability check against their Wisdom or Intelli-gence, whichever is higher, to recall the point in question. They must

make a similar ability check to know the common laws of other lands; torecall the uncommon legal practices or obscure legal points of order of for-eign lands, this ability check is at a -3 penalty or a -6 penalty, respectively.

• Saving throws against spells or spell-like abilities from the law spherecast by a holy justice are made at a -2 penalty.

• Holy justices are able to hold person (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once aday.

• At 3rd level, holy justices are able to cast strength of one (as the 3rd-levelpriest spell) once a day.

• At 5th level, holy justices are able to memory read (as the 3rd-level priestspell) once every three days and impose the need for impeding permission(as the 5th-level priest spell) on another once a tenday.

• At 7th level, holy justices are able to detect lie (as the 4th-level priestspell) at will.

• At 7th level, holy justices can make three melee attacks every tworounds.

• At 10th level, holy justices are able to impose legal thoughts (as the 6th-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 10th level, holy justices are able to speak a holy word (as the 7th-levelpriest spell) once a day.

• At 12th level, holy justices are able to detect invisibility (as the 2nd-levelwizard spell) at will.

• At 13th level, holy justices can make two melee attacks per round.

being can be for its truth-indicating ability to function. If someone ques-tioned is out of range, the hammer grows dim, hut the spell does not end.The caster can ask questions of any number of beings one at a time, and thetelltale hammer is bright and visible to all.

The hammer cannot be made to disappear before the spell expires even byits caster. The illusory hammer cannot be contacted or disturbed by anyknown magical or physical attack. Though magical barriers of 6th or greaterlevel can ward it away from a given area, there is no known means of destroy-ing it. Dispel magic has no effect on a hammer of justice. When the spell doesend, the hammer goes dark and seems to fall before it fades away entirely.

The material component for the spell is a miniature war hammer fash-ioned from diamond, obsidian, ivory, glass, or another pure, single-hued,black, white, or red, nonlivmg substance (cost varies with materials but av-erage is 25 gp).

Sword and Hammer (Evocation)Sphere: CombatRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, SDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell creates a shadowy sword and war hammer of twice normal size.These are animated magical constructs rather than tangible items. They flyabout within the spell range, which is centered on the caster, at MV 30 (A),striking once per round at THAC0 4 at a being or object mentally chosen bythe caster. The two weapons can attack the same target or each strike at aseparate target. They can change targets as often as the caster desires. Thesword inflicts 4d4 points damage, and the hammer deals 2d4 points. If theyboth attack the same target, there is no saving throw to avoid the damagethey inflict, but a creature facing only one of the spell weapons is allowed asaving throw vs. spell to suffer only half damage.

6th Level

Tyrran Spells

2nd LevelWolfjaws (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Combat, NecromanticRange: 0Components: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Tune: 5Area of Effect: The caster’s right handSaving Throw: NoneThis spell turns the priest’s right hand into a pair of powerful wolflike jaws inmemory of the way that Tyr lost his right hand to the monstrous wolf-likebeing Kezef the Chaos Hound. These jaws deal 2d4 points of damage to allopponents the priest successfully attacks with them. The spell allows thecaster to strike with the jaws twice per round and to gain a +1 bonus on allattack rolls with the jaws or another weapon while the spell is in effect. Awolfjaws spell vanishes if its caster attempts any other spellcasting, but apriest can wield a weapon or trigger a magical item in his or her left hand anduse a wolfjaws, thus gaining multiple attacks normally denied to him or herwithout affecting the spell in any way.

The weapons are considered sufficiently enchanted to hit any sort of foe(such as those hit only by weapons of +3 enchantment). They automaticallycontinue to attack the same target they did on the previous round if the casteris slain, departs, or turns his or her attention to other spellcasting. (When sucha spell is finished being cast, the caster may return his or her attention to thesword and hammer and reassign them to other targets if desired.)

The magical constructs created by sword and hammer strike silently, arenonmetallic, cannot be fooled by illusions, and cannot be magically con-trolled by anyone other than the caster. They vanish in a twinkling of lightswhen the spell expires or earlier if the caster wills the spell to end.

Resplendence of Renewed Youth (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Necromantic, HealingRange: TouchComponents: V, SDuration: 1 yearCasting Time: 1 hourArea of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: NoneThis spell allows a creature to tap into its spiritual strength in order to bringits body back to the peak strength of youth for one year. In a human, thiswould mean that the affected body would return to the shape it had whenthe recipient was around 25 years of age. Recipients of this spell lose all thenegative aspects of old age, such as lost hit points, levels, or ability scorepoints, and so on, as well as gaining immunity to all diseases for the durationof the spell only.

7th LevelThe caster can end a wolfjaws instantly at will. When the spell ends earl)in this manner, the caster can also spell remove the damage dealt by the lastbite of the wolfjaws, an ability that the priest can use to bargain with awounded foe or to correct cases where an ally has mistakenly been attackedby the priest. While wolfjaws is in effect, it provides its caster with completeimmunity to all hostile magical or psionic shape change and hold effects.

The material component for this spell is a bit of wolf fur or a tooth fromany type of mammal.

Hammer of Justice (Divination, Illusion/Phantasm)Sphere: DivinationRange: 5 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis improved variant of a detect lie spell creates a glowing illusion of an up-right war hammer, which is normally steel-gray in hue, hut blazes whitewhen truth is spoken, black when lies are told, and blood-red when true butdeceiving phrases are uttered. It cannot be made to lie by any known means.By the power of Tyr, this spell indicates absolute truth. If a questioned beinganswers with a lie that the being believes to be the truth, a lie is still indi-cated by the hammer hue (and vice versa).

5th Level

This spell functions only on characters who have shown exceptional wis-dom and piety during their lives, and then only if they have an exceptionalfocus that their current condition prevents them from completing. Casting aquest spell is thus mandatory before attempting this spell. Dropping this questmeans forfeiting all advantages of the resplendence spell.

Characters can benefit from this spell only once in a lifetime. When thespell expires, the recipient’s body returns to the state it would have normallyfor its years. The spell heavily drams the body of the recipient, and so addsan additional 1d10+3 years to the recipient’s true age when it expires.

This spell is one of the secrets of the church of Tyr and is used sparingly,only when it needs the help of a great hero in dire circumstances. It is ru-mored that the church of Sune has many times tried to learn the secret ofthis spell.

The illusionary hammer appears wherever the caster desires (withinrange), and thereafter moves to maintain the same distance from and orien-tation to the caster. The spell range refers to both how distant the hammercan initially be from the priest and how far from the hammer any questioned

Umberlee(The Bitch Queen, Sea Queen, Queen of the Deeps)Intermediate Power of the Abyss, CEPORTFOLIO:ALIASES:DOMAIN NAME:SUPERIOR:ALLIES:FOES:SYMBOL:

WOR. ALIGN.:

Oceans, currents, waves, sea windsNone13th level/Blood TorTalosAuril, Malar, TalosSelûne, Valkur the Mighty, Chauntea, SuneA forked blue-green wave, curling in breakers to bothleft and right, on a background of black streaked withwhiteA n y

Umberlee (Um-ber-LEE) the Bitch Queen rulesfrom her watery lair in a flooded level of the Abyss.She is worshiped by moat out of fear as opposed toadoration, though some few—such as most were-sharks , who she c rea ted to t r y to undermineSelûne—find her ethos to their liking. Ship crewstoss her gems over the sides of their vessels to calm

storm-tossed waters. She has a large number of shrines in coastal cities, andsailors often leave flowers, candies, small candies, or coins on her altars inhopes that Umberlee will spare them on the next voyage. Others who paytribute to her include merchants sending goods by sea, port cities, and islandnations and settlements who would be devastated by her wrath and have nota powerful patron deity to counter her menacing demands.

Umberlee continually contests with Selûne, in whom navigators trust toguide their ships safely home. Of late, she has also felt the heavy presence ofher own patron, Talos, who is trying to pick up violent nature in all its formsas his personal portfolio. Though Umberlee flirts with him on occasion, shewould gladly end his existence and become sole deity of destruction herselfif she had the power Unfortunately, her ambitions are limited by her inabil-ity to directly affect the land, so she bides her time and plays the coquette.Together Auril, Malar, Umberlee, and Talos are known as the Gods of Fury.

Umberlee is just plain malicious, mean, and evil. She breaks agreementson a whim when she feels that she has not gotten the best part of a deal andtakes great pleasure in both watchingher sharks tear shipwreck victims toshreds and watching others die slowly of drowning. She is also vain and ex-pects to be flattered. If she has any weakness, it is probably her incessantgreed for power and her intoxication with exercising it.

Umberlee spent the Time of Troubles in the Sea of Fallen Stars, wreakingdestruction on one pirate isle after another. The sea has remained stormyand troubled since that time, though it has calmed somewhat in the last twoto three years after an organized effort to appease her promoted by certain al-lied merchant costers said to he part of or in league with the Iron Throne.

Umberlee�s Avatar (Mage 31, Cleric 23, Fighter 20)Umberlee’s avatar rarely appears. When she does, it is as a female blue-greentorso with taloned hands, elbow fins, eyes of pale pearly death, and hair ofkelp. In this form, rising above the waves, she aims to impress and usuallytowers above sailors on the decks of a doomed ship. She wears giant shell jew-elry and a cape made from a million mauve jellyfish. Her voice hisses andbooms like ocean breakers, and she laughs cruelly as she flings watery deathand destruction on those who view her. She can cast spells from any priestsphere except elemental earth, elemental fire, sun, thought, and tune. Shecan cast spells from all wizard schools except elemental earth and elementalfire. She cannot cast any spell with a fiery manifestation. She casts all ele-mental water sphere and school spells at triple strength in all respects and tar-geted creatures receive a -3 penalty to their saving throws against such spells.

AC -3; MV 15, Sw 48; HP 208; THAC0 1; #AT 5/2Dmg 1d6+17 (trident +3, +11 STR, +2 spec. bonus in trident)MR 75%; SZ H (20 feet)STR 23, DEX 17, CON 24, INT 20, WIS 19, CHA 19Spells P: 12/11/11/10/9/7/3, W: 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 4, BW 4, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: When she uses a weapon, Umberlee strikes with at tri-dent +3 that in her hands works as a trident of submission and a trident of fishcommand. She can summon 2d4+4 sharks or 1d4+1 giant sharks to do herbidding every half hour. For the most part, these sharks try to attack or swal-low creatures in the water she indicates to them mentally. She can also sum-mon three 8-HD water elementals, two 12-HD water elementals, or one 16-HD water elemental to do her bidding once every 12 hours. These creatures

never become uncontrolled. Umberlee can also control the winds over theseas or the actions of the waves as indicated under Other Manifestations,below, while present.

Other ManifestationsRather than sending her avatar form, the Sea Queen prefers to manifest aswind or waves. Either form of manifestation is often accompanied by Um-berlee’s cold, cruel laughter or a hissed message. Umberlee’s powers are wan-ing, and she can now manifest as wind only four times a day. For 2d4 rounds,the Queen of the Deeps can send a gale blast of wind that smashes into allthings in its path for 5d10 points of damage per round.

Umberlee prefers to manifest in a form that remains unlimited: as an un-seen underwater presence that can aim and hurl waves. Waves are hurledone per round, tolling out in one of two forms. Either they strike beingswithin 160 feet for 4d4 points of damage and force them to make successfulsaving throw vs. death magic or drown, or they strike one spot, aiming towrest certain items away from a ship, swimmer, or aquatic creature. The spe-cific, targeted type of wave strike does 2d12 points of damage and forces abeing to make a successful Dexterity ability checks for all items it wants toretain. Umberlee can even snatch rings off fingers in this way (or removegauntlets and then snatch the rings from fingers); unattended items are au-tomatically carried off.

Umberlee also acts through the appearance or presence of sea monsters ofall sorts, especially sharks of monstrous size that are sent to devour swimmersor shipwrecked sailors, krakens, and all types of aquatic undead including(inland) undead lake monsters.

The ChurchCLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: N, CN, LE, NE, CETURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No.CMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes Specialty priests may command only un-

dead formed from creatures killed at sea or that areaquatic by nature.

All clerics and specialty priests of Umberlee receive religion (Faerûnian) asa bonus nonweapon proficiency. All clerics of Umberlee receive swimmingas a bonus nonweapon proficiency and can breathe water automatically.

Umberlant priests are a varied, disorganized lot, much given to duelingwith hooked, sicklelike knives to settle differences of primacy and rank.(These dueling knives represent Umberlee’s reapings of those who sail theseas.) Umberlant priests roam coastal cities, living primarily off the offeringsleft by fearful sailors. In addition to the traditional lit candles and small can-dies, Umberlants are increasingly demanding more real coin be left on thealtars. When there are no worshipers present, Umberlant priests then re-move the offerings from the stone block altars at Umberlee’s shrines andsluice the altars with buckets of sea water containing seaweed to signify thatthe Sea Queen has come for what is rightfully hers. Umberlants are also paidhandsomely to travel on ships from port to port, for their presence (it isthought) guarantees that Umberlee will not destroy a vessel.

There is little in the way of an organized clergy of Umberlee. Those whorelish her power and potential become her specialty priests. Specialty priestsmake up most of Umberlee’s clergy, since the advantages of the faith proveto be quite handy when superstitious sailors want to dump a priest overboardat the first sign of a storm. A few clerics have made some progress in status inthe faith, and most of them work in the adventuring order of the church.

Novice priests are known as the Untaken, but once Umberlee has con-firmed an individual as a priest, she or he is entitled to take offerings, leadprayers, and bestow blessings in her name. Full Umberlant priests can adoptany of the following titles (regardless of true rank and powers): Flood Tide,Dark Breaker, Puissant Undertow, Wave of Fury, Savage Seawind, andWavemistress or Wavelord. Specialty clergy are known as waveservants ortrue servants of the wave and use the same titles as other Umberlants withthe addition of the word “Dread” in front of them.

Dogma: The Umberlant faith has no set ethical outlook save that the seais a savage place and those who travel it had best be willing to pay the priceof challenging Umberlee’s domain. The doctrine of Umberlee declares thatall should know Umberlee and fear her, for the wind and the wave can reacheverywhere. Fair offerings bring fair winds to travelers over the waters, but forthose who do not pay their respects, the sea is as cold as Umberlee’s heart. Allwho travel the seas are warned that the dead serve Umberlee most faithfully.

Umberlant novices are charged to: “Spread word of the might of holyUmberlee, and let no service be performed in her name without price. Makefolk fear the wind and the waves, unless a priest of Umberlee be present to

protect them. Finally, slay any who ascribe sea and shore storms to Talos.”

Day-to-Day Activities: More folk fear Umberlee than revere her, butshe cares not why they worship, only that they do so. She rarely comes tofavor individual mortals, but she does do a little extra for those who faith-fully make offerings. To gain favorable winds for a voyage or to deliver themalive from storms, sailors sacrifice valuable cargo to her by piping it over-board: playing tunes dedicated to Umberlee on mouthpipes while heavingthe cargo over the side. They usually ensure that the cargo contains some-thing alive if their peril is great. If a ship runs aground or founders and anUmberlant priest is aboard, the furious sailors usually try en masse to murderthe priest before they are themselves drowned. Corpses of Umberlantpriests have washed ashore transfixed by as many as 30 cutlasses.

Umberlant clergy are charged to spread respect for Umberlee by preach-ing of the doom she has wrought in the past and the storms to come in allcoastal cities and settlements. Along the way, they seek to build up favorenough to be teleported ashore by the goddess if they are ever in danger onthe seas and to enrich themselves by accepting offerings, selling the safetyof their own presence on shipboard, or by casting certain spells. For a longvoyage down the Sword Coast between Waterdeep and Calimport, an Um-berlant priest may charge as much as 500 gold pieces to an average mer-chant vessel or up to three times that to a large, new, well-armed cog or car-avel carrying valuable cargo. If a priest on board has to use magic to defendor protect the ship, she or he charges by the spell and may well dicker overprice on the spot!

Beyond the healing magics common folk hire priests of most faiths toperform, two spells used by Umberlants are the most popular: stormcloakand speak with the drowned dead. Pirates often hire Umberlant clergy to castspeak with the drowned dead because, by careful phrasing of a question, theycan learn directions to a sunken ship or treasure.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: Umberlee is to be worshipeddaily with offerings, prayer, and self-anointing on the brow, hands, and feetwith sea water. In addition, the faith has a few special rituals, most notablythe Drowning, First Tide, and Stormcall.

The Drowning is a private ritual, and only clergy members may witnessit or take part. In the Drowning, an Untaken becomes a true priest of thegoddess. The supplicant lies before an altar and is surrounded by candles litto the goddess, each placed with an intoned prayer by a different Umber-lant priest. The attending clergy then withdraw, and a senior priest casts aspell that causes sea water to flood the room in a huge breaking wave andthen flow away. Supplicants who survive are confirmed in the service ofUmberlee and warned that if they should ever betray the Queen of theDeeps, drowning is the fate that awaits them. They were spared during theDrowning and so can be taken by the Sea Queen at any time to come.(Clergy whom the Sea Queen feels have failed her go to sleep one nightnever to awaken, dying during the night of drowning, their lungs mysteri-ously filled with sea water.)

The public rituals of Umberlee include First Tide and the Stormcall.First Tide is celebrated by a flute-and-drum parade through the streets of acity by the clergy when the ice breaks up in a harbor. In a cold-hearted andbrutal ritual, the clergy carry a live large animal down to the shore to betied to a rock and hurled into the water. If the creature somehow washes orstruggles ashore alive, it is freed, tended, and magically healed back to fullhealth. It then becomes a sacred animal with the rank of an Umberlant.(This custom began in ancient times when Umberlee often selected herclergy from among human sacrifices by unbinding them beneath thewater.)

Stormcall is a mass prayer in which worshipers call for Umberlee to senda storm to devastate a specific harbor or ship or to turn away an approach-ing storm or one that has already broken upon the worshipers. Worshiperskneel around pools in which lit candles float on fragments of driftwood thathave been carefully collected and dried by Umberlant priests for this pur-pose. Sacrifices of precious goods are thrown into the pools, but the priestsmust carefully levitate the candles through the magic of the ceremony asthis is done to keep them alight�for a candle doused is a sign of Umberlee�sanger.

Major Centers of Worship: For years, the House on the Cliff nearMarsember in Cormyr was the richest, largest, and most influential templeof Umberlee, but either because of the work of a rival god or through thedispleasure of Umberlee, it was utterly destroyed during the Time of Trou-bles. No one house of the Sea Queen has risen to unquestioned prominencesince, but contenders for this honor include Shipsgrave Tower in Velen,where Wavelord Darjast Surnden rules a loyal complement of ex-pirate,battle-hardened clergy; the Cove of the Queen on Mintarn, a hidden har-bor where pirates are led by Umberlants who serve Wavemistress RoyalQalbess Frostyl; Stormhaven House on Orlumbor, governed by High Tri-

dent Thaeryld Nornagul; and the Seacaves of the Roaring in Teshburl, alarge and prosperous place adorned with gold where priests under the gov-ernance of Deep Wavemaster Ultho Maelatar sell small, smooth, stonestorm tokens guaranteeing safety on a voyage (for the individual carryingthem only) to Calishites who are fearful or cannot swim.

Affiliated Orders: The Umberlant faith does not have many affiliatedorders. The only one of note is the adventuring order of the faith, the SeaQueen�s Breakers, which pursues treasure-hunting and recovery operationsbeneath the waves or adventures on land when the promise of gold seemsto outweigh the dangers of an Umberlant priest working long away fromwater.

Priestly Vestments: The ceremonial garb of the priests of Umberleeconsists of a skin-tight blue or green body stocking worn with a voluminouscape of blue or green trimmed with white fur (to represent foaming break-ers). A tall collar, similarly trimmed, rises from the back of the cape�s neck.A popular badge of rank is the magically preserved skeletal hand of adrowning victim.

Adventuring Garb: All clergy members wear whatever they desirefrom day to day, so long as something of mottled blue and green is worn(usually as a sash or scarf). Most Umberlant clergy members carry a hookeddueling knife. (These dueling knives cost 3 gp, weigh 2 lbs., are size S, in-flict damage type S, are speed 4, and do 1d4+1/1d3+1 points of damage.)

Specialty Priests (Waveservants)Constitution 15, Wisdom 13Constitution, WisdomCE

REQUIREMENTS:PRIME REQ.:ALIGNMENT:WEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weapons plus the tri-

dent, harpoon, and Umberlant dueling knifeAll armor types up to and including leather armor andshield

ARMOR:

MAJOR SPHERES:

MINOR SPHERES:

MAGICAL ITEMS:REQ. PROFS:BONUS PROFS:

All, chaos, combat, creation, elemental water, healing,necromantic, summoning, weatherAnimal, charm, elemental (all other aspects), guardian,protection, sunSame as clericsNoneSwimming, modern languages (pick two from: dragonturtle, sea elvish, koalinth, kuo-toan, locathah, nereid,merman, morkoth, sahuagin, triton)

� Waveservants may not turn or command normal undead. They maycommand undead that were killed at sea or are aquatic in nature, suchas lacedons or skeletons of pirates.

� Waveservants may breathe water automatically.� At 3rd level, waveservants are able to cast watery double (as the 3rd-

level wizard spell) once a day.� At 5th level, waveservants are able to water walk (similar to the 4th-

level priest spell) at will. This ability cannot be conveyed to others ex-cept by the casting of a water walk spell as normal.

� At 7th level, waveservants are able to summon up a striking wave (as the4th-level priest spell) once a day.

� At 10th level, waveservants can move through water as if they werewearing a ring of free action. Should they acquire such a ring, it providesno additional benefit under water, but otherwise works normally.

� Also at 10th level, waveservants may control weather (as the 7th-levelpriest spell) once per day. Waveservants may move the conditions toany worse condition under the same prevailing heading (as per thechart in the spell description). Waveservants can never use their abili-ties to improve the weather conditions. They may only perform theseactions when at sea (fresh or salt water), or at the shores of an ocean orlarge lake. Large ponds and rivers are not sufficient to allow the use ofthis ability.

� At 12th level, waveservants can call and control 1d4 sharks once perday in areas where they normally exist. The sharks arrive in 1d6 rounds.They respond to the waveservant�s commands whether spoken underwater or above water.

Umberlant Spells3rd LevelSpeak with the Drowned Dead (Necromancy)Sphere: Elemental Water, DivinationRange: SpecialComponents: V, SDuration: Varies

Casting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialUpon casting speak with the drowned dead, the priest or another designatedperson within 3 yards of the priest is able to ask two questions of a creaturewho died by drowning who is called on by name. (Complete names are notnecessary, although naming information sufficient to distinguish one indi-vidual from another is.) The body of the drowning victim need not be pre-sent. The answers are phrased in normal speech, not merely “yes” and “no”replies. Questioned creatures cannot lie, but they can be as misleading andevasive as possible within that constraint.

The awareness and memories of the drowned one end at death. Ques-tioned creatures cannot know what events befell after they drowned and willsay so if asked, wasting an answer.

Drowned creatures of different alignment than the caster or of higherlevel or Hit Dice than the caster’s level receive a saving throws vs. spell. Adrowned creature that succeeds at this saving throw can refuse to answerquestions, ending the spell.

4th LevelStriking Wave (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange:Components:Duration:Casting Time:Area of Effect:Saving Throw:

5 yards/levelV, S, MVaries1 roundSpecialSpecial

This spell causes water to rise up into asingle directed strike of massive force.A large body of water must be present(in other words, a pond, lake, or thesea) or the spell is wasted. It cannot create water out of nothing, nor can itcause the contents of a tub or small, ornamental pool to do more than rise up

impressive manner and crash back down again, splashingthingsnearby.A striking wave varies from 10 feet to 100 feet wide as thecasterdirects,

in an

moves in the direction its caster directs and can change direction in re-sponse to the caster’s silent concentration, but it must travel at least 60 feetin a straight line before it can do harm; otherwise, items in its path simplyride up along its swell and are unharmed. The priest must be in contact withthe water to cast the spell, although this contact can be as little as a hand ortoe dipped into the wetness. The range of the spell applies to how distantthe wave can form from the caster, not how far it can travel. If unhinderedby impact or obstacle, the striking wave travels several miles before subsiding.If cast in a confined area, such as a harbor, so that it strikes a sea wall orother immobile obstacle within 100 feet of its forming, it rebounds back towhere it was formed, doing double damage to creatures and items between.

A striking wave smashes into immobile objects for 10d12 points of dam-age. Floating objects are allowed a saving throw vs. spell; if alive and swim-mine or free to move in the water, floating creatures are also allowed a sec-ond saving throw vs. spell. Each saving throw thatsucceeds removes threedice of damage, so swimmers who make both saving throws suffer only 4d12points of damage. A rebounding wave must he saved for separately bothtimes; one set of saving throws does not govern both strikes.

Striking waves may attack targets on the shore; however, they lose force asthey do so. For every 10 feet up the shore the nave travels, 1d12 of damageis lost from the wave.

Ships suffer structural damage from a striking wave as follows: A ship au-tomatically loses 10% of its seaworthiness if at anchor or tied up dockside,but only 5% of it if floating freely; small open boats suffer double this dam-age. Open boats and barges may well be capsized by a striking wave. TheDungeon Master must adjudicate such situations. The DM must also deter-mine damage done to wharves and other structures; however, such damage israrely extensive unless the buildings’ construction was not intended for ma-rine or shore use.

The material component of this spell is a drop of water blessed by Um-berlee or by a senior Umberlant in the name of the goddess.

Oars to Snakes (Alteration) ReversibleSphere: PlantRange: 50 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 3 rounds/levelCasting Time: 9Area of Effect: 1 oar/3 levelsSaving Throw: None

This more powerful variant of the sticks to snakes spell transforms the oarsaboard a ship into giant sea snakes.It may be cast in one of two modes: de-fensive or offensive.

Using the defensive mode, the caster essentially transforms the oars of hisor her own vessel into sea serpent defenders. These serpents remain withinthe oarlocks of the vessel which bore them, but may attack beings outside ofthe ship who are nearby, such as boarders. Each serpent can attack oneboarder once a round with a THAC0 11, inflicting 3d6 points of damage foreach successful strike. The serpents remain until the spell expires or they areslain; they are 10 HD creatures of AC 5.

This spell may also be cast offensively. In this mode, the oars become ser-pents of similar Hit Dice and THAC0 to those above, but rather than at-tacking outside the ship, their poisonous heads are aimed within a shipwithin range (including the caster’s ship), attacking the oarsmen and de-stroying the ship’s ability to maneuver. The poisonous bite of these serpentsdoes 1d6 points of damage, but anyone bitten must make a successful savingthrow vs. poison against type C poison. Those who successfully save sufferonly 2d4 points of additional damage; those who fail their saving throws suf-fer an additional 25 points of damage. The poison has an onset time of1d4+1 minutes. Creatures struck repeatedly must make a saving throw everytime they are bitten.

While the spell continues, the ship does not have the use of those oarsturned into serpents, and thus its speed may be reduced. The serpents turnback into usable oars when the spell expires, although those which were“killed” are broken and useless.

The reverse of this spell, snakes to oars, changes giant sea snakes to oarsfor the same duration or negates the oars to snakes spell according the level ofthe priest countering the spell (for example, a 12th-level priest castingsnakes to ours can turn four sea serpents back into oars).

The material components of this spell are a small piece of wood and thescales from a sea snake.

Stormcloak (Abjuration, Evocation)Sphere: Elemental Water, ProtectionRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 yearCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One living beingSaving Throw: NoneStormcloak sets up a condition that, when the spell is activated at any timefor up to a year after being cast by speaking a secret word aloud, the spell re-cipient cannot die as a result of a storm at sea that she or he is currently ex-periencing. Once activated, the spell guarantees that by some assortment ofcoincidental conditions (as far-fetched or commonplace as need be), thespell recipient will not drown, be struck down by flying debris, die of beinghurled ashore against rocks, etc. from that particular storm.

Umberlant priests cannot cast this spell on themselves.The material component of this spell is the holy symbol of the Umber-

lant casting it (which is not consumed in the casting).

6th LevelWaterspout (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 turnCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell causes water to rise up into a whirling, cylindrical column. A largebody of water must he present (in other words, a pond, lake, or the sea) orthe spell is wasted; the magic cannot create water. A waterspout created bymeans of this spell is 10 feet across, rises 80 feet above the water, and re-quires a depth of water of at least 20 feet beneath it. If sufficient space is notavailable for the spout to form, the spell is wasted. If it later encounters in-sufficient depth after it has formed, it collapses, inflicting 4d6 points offalling damage to all beings within it as the only damage it deals in thatround and ending the spell.

A waterspout is a destructive vortex of water which flails and sucks increatures and objects it contacts and waterborne items within 10 feet of it-self (below and on all sides), whirling them up to its top before flinging themfree. The caster can direct the waterspout to travel horizontally 10 feet perround. It will claw along the sides of large immobile objects such as castle

walls or islands that it is sent against and smash through flimsy barriers.When the spell expires, it stinks slowly down, doing no harm to creatures anditems it is carrying that round.

Items struck by a waterspout must make item saving throws vs. crushingblow once per round or be shattered and destroyed. Structures and largeritems may well suffer structural image as determined by the DM.

Creatures struck by a waterspout are sucked into it the first round. Theyare then helplessly whirled about for 6d8 points of damage per round for tworounds; they must also make a successful saving throw vs. death magic eachround or drown unless able to breathe in water by natural or magical meansor hold their breath (a successful Strength and Consitution ability checkeach round or a successful swimming proficiency check each round. Finally,they are flung tree at the end of the next round, taking only 3d8 points ofdamage during this round. (They need not make saving throws vs. deathmagic this round.) Being flung free typically hurls a creature 100 feet ormore horizontally (in the midst of a mist of water) and bestows 6d4 points offalling damage on creatures it they land in water or a swamp or as much as12d4 points of damage if they are hurled into trees, buildings, rocks, or othersolid objects. Items still miraculously attached to a flung creatures bodymust make a successful saving throw vs. crushing blow when their wearerlands or he destroyed; magical items receive a +2 bonus to this saving throw.Only on the round of being flung free is a creature able to use magicalmeans, such as an item or quick spell, to escape the effects of the waterspout.

The material component of this spell is a drop of water blessed by Um-berlee or by a senior Umberlant in the name of the goddess.

7th LevelMaelstrom (Alteration, Evocation)Sphere: Elemental WaterRange: 10 yards/levelComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 turnCasting Time: 1 roundArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: SpecialThis spell causes a large body of water (a pond having a 60-foot-deep areathat is itself 120 feet across or larger, a lake, or the sea) to sink and whirl intoa sucking, drowning cone. The maelstrom created by this spell is a destruc-tive, descending vortex of water that sucks in creatures and objects, whirlsthem around and down, and thrusts them out of its bottom deep underwater.Waterborne items and creatures within 50 feet of the maelstrom’s edge aredrawn in to it at a rate of 10 feet per round until they enter the cone—whereupon they are whirled around and around, descending for four roundsbefore being expelled at the bottom on the fifth. The maelstrom is 60 feetdeep and 120 feet in diameter.

Creatures able to swim and boats being rowed or under sail can fightagainst the pull of the maelstrom, making Strength ability checks each roundthat if successful slow their progress into the cone to 5 feet. Vessels receive aStrength check based on a Strength score equal to that of their strongestrower plus 1.

0nce drawn into the maelstrom and descending, creatures take 2d6points of buffeting damage per round but travel in a fairly stable path. Nospells, requiring a material component can be cast, and only items already inhand can be used. On each round, descending creatures must make a suc-ccessful saving throw vs. death magic or drown unless able to breathe waterby natural or magical means or hold their breath (a successful Strength andConstitution ability check at a -1 penalty each round or a successful Swim-ming proficiency check at a -1 penalty each round).

On the fifth round (that of expulsion), the damage is doubled to 4d6points, and the saving throw vs. death magic is made at a -2 penalty (-2 toholding one’s breath). From the 60-foot depth at the center of the cone, thecreature is expelled 40 feet downward and to one side. If a rocky bottom orany solid object is struck during this forcible journey, an additional 2d4points of damage is taken. Thereafter, the being is free of the maelstrom’s ef-fects but is 100 feet below the surface of the water and will drown unlessmeans of breathing in water are available or an immediately ascent is made.An ascending creature must succeed at three swimming checks or three setsof Strength and Constitution checks. If any of these rolls fail, ld4 points ofdamage are taken per failed roll.

Items drawn into a maelstrom are buffeted and then expelled just as crea-tures are and must make successful item saving throw vs. acid for each ofthe four rounds of descent plus the round of expulsion or be destroyed. Ifthey strike bottom when they are expelled, an additional item saving throwvs. crushing blow is forced upon the item. If it is failed, the item is destroyed.

Buoyant items that survive all this slowly ascend to the surface. All otherssettle to the bottom wherever the maelstrom hurls them.

When the spell expires, the maelstrom slows and becomes more shallow.Its central waters rise to the surface and carry all items and creatures up withthem in an ascending, undamaging spiral. From the moment the spell ex-pires, no damage is dealt by a maelstrom; things not yet expelled from its bot-tom are borne back to the surface in the described manner.

The material component of this spell is a drop of water blessed by Um-berlee or by a senior Umberlant in the name of the goddess.

Waukeen (Missing)(Merchants� Friend)Lesser Power of the Outlands, NPORTFOLIO: Trade, money, wealthALIASES: NoneDOMAIN NAME: Formerly: Outlands/The Marketplace Eternal; currently

missing and presumed adrift in the Astral PlaneSUPERIOR:ALLIES:FOES:SYMBOL:

NoneLlilra, GondMaskA gold coin displaying the face of the goddess facing tothe sinister

WOR. ALIGN.: AnyWaukeen (Wau-KEEN) is a relatively young deity.She appealed to the rising merchant class in theRealms, and her worshipers included shopkeepers,members of trading casters, wealthy merchants, car-avan guides, itinerant peddlers, moneychangers,and smugglers—many of whom may return to herfold yet, depending on how events transpire.

Waukeen is a vibrant and vivacious deity with awill to get things done. She loves wealth not for the sake of money itself butfor the comforts, conveniences, and opportunities it brings her and her fol-lowers. She likes the fast-paced bargaining and the give-and-take of themarketplace, and legend holds that she has been recognized many times byworshipers just after she and her follower had finished a spirited bargainingsession over an item for sale in a town market. (She always won the bestdeal, but the merchant was usually well satisfied with the terms also.) Wau-keen is willing to try odd methods to accomplish her goals when tried andtrue ones are just not working. This openness to innovation has led her toembrace many of Gond’s “new-fangled gadgets” long before other deitiesthought them wise. However, while she is open to different methods ofproblem-solving, she is also stubborn about having her way and very persis-tent. In fact, it is a combination of these virtues and flaws that led to thedire predicament she is in now.

For over 10 years now, Waukeen has been unheard from in the Realmsand thought destroyed or dead. When all the powers of the Realms wereconfined to Toril’s surface, she was never spotted by mortals, and when theGodswar ended no avatar came forward to take over her portfolio. Noteven Cyric and Mask, responsible for the death of Leira and Bhaal, claimedher portfolio or claimed to have killed her. Her priests were deprived oftheir spells, and many of her worshipers and churches turned to otherfaiths. Pandemonium reigned among her clergy. Finally, in 1365 DR, aprophet of Lliira appeared with a revelation that was interpreted to meanWaukeen was dead and banished from the Realms and would not return.The prophet appeared at the gates of each of the temples of Waukeen in theRealms on a series of days, transported by magic. At each stop, the prophetsaid that Lliira would hold the portfolio of Waukeen in trust as its regentand grant spells to the worthy. The Waukeenar temples, already battered byloss of respect and worshipers, readily agreed, and the faith of Waukeenwas smoothly folded into the worship of Lliira, with dissenting Waukeenarmoving to the faiths of Tymora, Lathander, Shaundakul, and even Beshaba.Lliira gained extensive power in the move.

But what really happened to Waukeen?Waukeen was indeed confined to an avatar on the surface of Toril just as

all the other powers were when the Time of Troubles began. Just like manyother powers, she wanted beyond all else to return to her home realm andfrom there to marshal her resources to resolve (or help resolve) the turmoilin the Realms—preferably to her best advantage. Waukeen was fortunatein that the first avatar she encountered on Tori1 was that of Lliira. The twogoddesses had previously been on good terms and saw no reason to changethat state of affairs; in fact, they chose to travel together. Like many of thepowers, Waukeen knew of the Celestial Staircase in Shadowdale and de-

cided to try to climb it (much as Mystra attempted later). Once Waukeengot to the top, she intended to bribe Helm with whatever his heart’s desirewas to let her and Lliira pass on to the Outer Planes. However, this planquickly proved unfeasible, since Waukeen and Lliira proceeded no morethan a quarter of the way up the Celestial Staircase before being menac-ingly challenged by Helm. He proved to be unbribable, a response not alto-gether unexpected from the god of guardians.

So, Waukeen and Lliira descended and retreated into the forest ofCormanthor to plan. Waukeen, being the goddess of trade of all kinds,both licit and illicit, hit upon another plan: She would smuggle herself offthe Realms. To do this, she would have to use the network of contacts shehad developed in her time as a goddess and her extensive knowledge oftrade and smuggling routes from the Realms into the Outer Planes andfrom one plane to another. She planned to move along a circuitous coursethrough the Lower Planes and approach her realm indirectly, so as tohave the best chance of sneaking past Ao’s watchdogs into her realm.

Waukeen, through a convoluted route, managed to contact Celestian,a power of long-distance and interplanar travel from another crystalsphere who owed her a favor. Celestian agreed to repay the favor by trans-porting Waukeen off of Toril and into the Astral Plane and shielding hertemporarily from Ao, but there was one sticking point—Ao was prevent-ing all Realms deities from leaving Toril. In order to leave the AstralPlane and enter the Outer Planes, Waukeen would have to give up beinga goddess. Because of the peculiar restrictions Ao had forced upon thepowers in their avatar forms, Waukeen was able to shed her mantle of di-vinity, reducing herself to no more than an extremely powerful, but ex-tremely knowledgeable, mortal. She left the mantle of her divinity withLliira for safe-keeping, since Celestian adamantly would not risk offend-ing such a powerful being as Ao by trying to transport Lliira, a goddess hedid not even know, in addition to Waukeen. Lliira promised to guardWaukeen’s portfolio and godly power until she returned for it, and Celes-tian transported Waukeen to the Astral Plane without incident.

Once on the Astral Plane, Waukeen had arranged to be met by powerfulminions of an underworld contact she had in the Abyss—Graz’zt, anabyssal lord. Graz’zt’s minions appeared as promised, and Waukeen accom-panied them to Azzagrat in the Abyss. There she was to pay Graz’zt well forhis help by revealing the hiding places (on the Prime Material and otherplanes) of the amount of treasure they had agreed on would serve as pay-ment for Graz’zt’s aid. Once in Graz’zt’s palace, however, Waukeen wastrapped and betrayed. Graz’zt wanted to renegotiate the contract they hadmade, and Waukeen was to be his guest—indefinitely—so that he couldbenefit from her wealth of knowledge—or rather, her knowledge aboutwealth. Since this time (to this very day), Waukeen has been trapped in the45th, 46th, and 47th layers of the Abyss, shuttled between the ArgentPalace in Zelatar, where she is infrequently invited for tea and interroga-tions by Grz’zt, and the habitation of Maretta, the Lady of the Counting-House who watches over the the revenues from the pacts Graz’zt has made withmortals. (Maretta lives in Samora, a city of vice whose dwellings are builtwith an eye toward excessive ornamentation.) Once Waukeen even es-caped her escorts and fled into the Viper Forest of Zrintor, only to wanderlost for a tenday before being betrayed again to Graz’zt by several tanar’riwhose fear of his wrath overcame their greed for the riches promised tothem for getting Waukeen to the Outlands.

While Waukeen was gone, the Godswar was resolved, and Ao restoredaccess to the Outer Planes from Toril and removed his peculiar restric-tions on the powers’avatar forms. But Waukeen was not there to benefitfrom this renewed access, and her divine power rested (at least temporar-ily) in another being, so her form was not changed. Lliira became increas-ingly worried over her friend’s failure to reappear, but was unable to locateher either. Divinations by Waukeen’s own faithful failed to work, gaveconfusing readings due to the muddled state of her divine power, or mys-teriously cross-connected with the Abyss and drove the diviners insane.Lliira saw Waukeen’s church disintegrating before her eyes and felt theonly way to preserve what was left for her friend’s return was to take con-trol of it herself before a more basely motivated power moved in to takeover. She instructed her prophet as to what to say and transported him tothe gates of every temple to Waukeen, as described above. The prophetwas to emphasize Waukeen’s uncertain status and the regency of Lliira,but the Waukeenar, already in a panic-stricken state after receiving nonew spells for years, immediately heard what they thought they weregoing to hear and recorded that Waukeen was dead.

Campaign Effects of Waukeen�s Status: Ongoing FORGOTTEN

REALMS setting campaigns can make what they wish of this revelation ofthe fate of Waukeen. Three suggested possibilities are:

Waukeen is Still Imprisoned: This is the official state of affairs and main-tains the current Realms status quo. However, it is likely that at sometime in years to come an intrepid group of adventurers may discover in-formation that allows them to attempt to rescue Waukeen. This entrycontains sufficient information to enable campaigns to integrate a re-vived church of Waukeen.

Waukeen is Dead: Events occurred as detailed above, but Waukeendied recently in the Abyss. Lliira retains Waukeen’s divine power and fi-nally incorporates it into herself. She becomes the next lesser power ofthe Realms likely to become an intermediate power. Shaundakul’s cara-van and trader worshipers continue to expand, and he becomes a candi-date for the next major god of trade and money in the Realms, working inthe service of Lliira.

Waukeen Escapes: Events occurred as given above, but Waukeen es-capes immediately or at a time convenient to the DM’s ongoing cam-paign. Most of the Waukeenar who joined the churches of Lathander andLliira return to Waukeen, although the Tymorans and Shaundakuns donot. Shaundakul develops a close relationship with Waukeen as the twopowers work out the new boundaries of their portfolios. If Waukeen everrises to the status of intermediate power, Shaundakul will serve her as thedeity of traders and caravans. Alternatively, Shaundakul may experiencea sudden waning of his power as Waukeen experiences the first flush ofpower on her return and be once again diminished to the status of ademipower, only to take up service with Waukeen as their relationshipbecomes closer.

Waukeen's Avatar (Cleric 30, Mage 22)Waukeen appears as a young,beautiful, slim woman whose hair is, long,luxuriant, and the hue of spungold. Her eyes are two golden orbs. Shewears a gown of gleaming strips of various precious metals studded with awide variety of precious stones, a cloak of linked gold coins, a sash ofcloth-of-gold, and gold-soled boots of linked, laced pearls. She can usespells from any school or sphere.

AC -2; MV 15. Fl 15, HP 166, THAC0 2; #AT 1Dmg 1d10MR 75%; SZ L (10 feet)STR 15, DEX 19, CON 19, INT 24, WIS 21, CHA 24Spells P: 12/12/12/11/10/9/8, W: 5/5/5/5/5/5/4/4/3Saves PPDM 2, RSW 3, PP 5, BW 7, Sp 4

Special Att/Def: Waukeen can walk on air, levitating at will and thenstriding about. (This is reflected in her movement rate.) She can spray1d100 gold coins per round from her hands at will in a 6-inch-wide, 60-foot-long stream as either a helpful gift or as a weapon. The stream strikeswith her THAC0 and does 4d6 points of damage of bludgeoning (Type B)damage per round. The coins remain after she ceases the spray.

Waukeen can cause a flame strike or spit moltengold in addition to hernormal actions each round. The flame strike is made of roaring flameswrapped in a whirling helix of gold coins that vanish with the end of theconflagration. This flame strike inflicts 6d8 points of damage upon any onecreature within 200 feet. (A successful saving throw halves the damage.)

She can spit molten gold up to 6 feet horizontally. The metal does 4d4points of heat damage if it falls onto a living creature while still smokingfrom her lips. When cool, it can be collected to be used as any previousmetal is. (It is very pure and thus very soft and easily scraped up with atool.)

Waukeen is immune to electrical and lightning damage, charm spellsand spell-like abilities, and illusions of any kind.

Other ManifestationsWaukeen usually manifests as a glowing shower of gold coins that materi-alizes from nowhere and undulates like a serpent or orbits a chosen beingor item the goddess wants attention drawn to before the light dies and thestream of coins collapses in a spray of bouncing, rolling coinage. Thecoins are real and can be snatched up by anyone present. Waukeenar al-ways try to grab them if possible, seeing them as “divine essence of thegoddess.” She also appears as a pair of gleaming golden eyes (in dreams,often only half seen), watching from an impenetrable shadow.

Waukeen also acts through the appearance or presence of ferrumachsand plumachs. More commonly she sends money where none is expectedto be found (such as a face-up copper piece on a path), palomino horses,golden cats, golden lions, lock lurkers, daffodils, citrines, pyrite, goldnuggets, and eagles (especially golden ones) to show her favor and as asign to inspire her faithful.

The Church seeds your future success. Call on me in trade, and I will be there.CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priestsCLERGY’S ALIGN.: NG, LN, N, CN, NETURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SE YesCMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: YesAll clerics and specialty priests of Waukeen receive religion (Faerûnian) asa bonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Waukeen must pay a tithe of25% of the money they make to the church. This does nor includedchurch-bestowed wages or stipends or money collected for casting spellsupon worshipers while working at a temple or shrine (since this money goesto the church, not the priest), but does included profits from investments,treasure gained while adventuring, rewards, fees, etc.

Most of the former priests of Waukeen are now Lliiracists, either fullytaken with the power of the faith or worshiping Lliira as Waukeen’s godlyregent, though some also joined the churches of Tymora, Lathander, Be-shaba, and Shaundakul. The (remaining) clergy members of Waukeen areknown as Waukeenar, but most other faiths call them “coinspinners.” Thisname comes from the fact that they are not misers, but wild spenders, dis-playing the bounty of the goddess to all. The church is approximately 40%clerics and 60% specialty priests. It is organized in a loosely hierar-chical manner, and all temples of Waukeen in Faerûn an-swer to one head of the church, who holds the title ofHolycoin. Specialty priests of the faith areknown as goldeyes because their pupils turnthat blazing hue due to the touch of thegoddess. Goldeyes are among the mostsuccessful prospectors and tomb-trea-surefinders in Faerûn.

Novices are known as Telcharamong Waukeenar. In ascendingorder, the ranks a priest mayrise through after she or he isc o n f i r m e d a r e : C o i n ,Abreeant, Counter, Trabbar,Investor, Halanthi, Lender,

find gold, the careful keep it—and the timid yield it up.”Day-to-Day Activities: Waukeenar travel the world aiding merchants

or staff temples in large cities that serve as moneylending and changinghouses, safe storage narehouses, and (covertly) fences for stolen goods—allin exchange for fees. Temples also provide wealthy merchants who givegenerous tithes to the temples sumptuous priest-guarded accommodationsin town during their stays.

Waukeen’s clergy members are under orders to invest in all enterprisesthat have any reasonable hope of succeeding if they are run by devoutworshipers of the goddess and to consider other investments if ap-proached by entrepreneurs willing to make substantial offerings to thegoddess. Waukeenar are not above manipulating trade by means of ru-mors, buy-ups, hired border brigands, and the like, but strong public criti-cism of such unsubtle tactics in the past has led the church to officiallydeny undertaking such things—and to order its priests to do such workonly with the greatest subtlety, so that no one who suspects their hands atwork will be able to prove anything. Personal enrichment is the sign of awise priest, but this must be done through arms-length investments, not

openly unlawful acts.Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: The usual altar

to Waukeen is a plain stone block or wooden table onwhich is set a blessed golden bowl. As gold coins

and other riches are added to it, the bowl risesoff the table, levitating due to an enchant-

ment that becomes stronger in directproportion to the nonorganic weight

added to it. (Such a bowl can betowed about without the mover

having to take the weight of itscontents and used to shift heavystone blocks, rocks, or furni-ture, but no use of it is to bemade that allows nonclergymembers of Waukeen to see it

Syndo, Manycoins, GrandTrabbar, Spender, GrandSyndar, Overgold (a generalterm for high clergy), andHolycoin.

Temples of Waukeen arebuilt in many architecturalstyles, but a preference for or-nateness and ornamentation isprevalent no matter whether thebuilding is a soaring cathedral or aclassical temple featuring a largeportico and many columns. Decora-tion in Waukeen’s temples covers thefloors walls, roof pillars, and ceiling if pos-sible. The decorative elements are baroque,intricate, brightly colored, and feature as muchprecious metal and as many gemstones as can belogically or illogically fitted into the design.

Dogma: Waukeen teaches that mercantile trade is the bestroad enrichment. Increasing the general prosperity of all buys ever-greatercivilization and happiness for intelligent folk Faerûnwide, bringing everyonecloser step by step to the Golden Age that Waukeen says lies ahead—ifpeople conduct themselves rightly. It is the duty of all who believe in themerchants’ Friend to destroy no trade goods, raise no restrictions to trade,and propagate no malicious rumors that may harm trade (such as saying thatgrapes from Chessenta are poisoned or that Cormyrean carved furniture con-tains boring worms that Cormytes are trying to export to the lands of com-petitors). Indeed, such rumors are to be challenged when heard and refuted ifpossible.

Faithful of Waukeen should give money freely to beggars and businessesalike, both to demonstrate the bounty of the goddess and the wealth to begained by service to her and to increase the free coin in everyone’s hands. Ifeveryone has more than enough coin to spend, the tendency to hide andhoard is less and the urge to buy this or that all the greater—and morethings are bought, and everyone is the richer. Through riches the lives of allare made better, and the Golden Age draws nearer.

Telchar of Waukeen are charged: “Worship me, and you shall knowwealth. To guard your funnds is to venerate Waukeen and to share them well

in secular operation.) All rit-uals to the goddess centeraround offerings made byworshipers into this bowl,and if a member of the faith-ful ever wishes to make his orher nightly prayer and is notwithin reach of such a bowl, asingle coin must be cast intowater (such as a stream or

pond) and left there as the sup-plication is made.

The first ritual of high holinessthe Cleaving, wherein nonbelievers first

entering the faith, people entering theirnovitiate, novices becoming priests, or priests

rising in rank dedicate themselves to the goddess.This involves entering the church covered with dirt,

and in this state going to the altar on one’s knees, carryingor dragging (use of a sledge and body harness is allowed) one’s

own weight in gold. The gold is placed on the altar, the bowl is then kissed bythe supplicant, and as a hymn to the goddess is sung by all, stone covers in thefloor roll back to reveal a warm bath of spiced wine. As the supplicant entersit, the offering bowl levitates and pours out its contents of liquid gold (actu-ally holy water laced with flecks of gold) into the waters. The supplicantbathes until clean but sparkling with gold as hymns to the goddess continue.Priests then come torward to allow the person to modestly be dried andclothed in new grand, gaudy garb. After this, a feast begins.

The best-known ceremony of holiness is the bestowal of the Mark of theLady, a gold chevron in the form of a giant coin of Waukeen. This is done toreward priests or faithful worshipers of the goddess who have achieved greatsuccess or distinction in their endeavors (in other words, who have enrichedthe church and/or their communities, not merely themselves). The FavoredOne ends up with the coin on a sash, and all who attend such a ceremony re-ceive a single tiny gold coin. (Some people have three or more of the heavy,fragile, highly prized giant conis, which cost 450 gp or more due to the goldthat goes into them.) Thieves are warned that Waukeenar seem to have aspell that allows them to trace such coins. On two occasions when the giftcoins were stolen, clergy members unerringly followed the thieves and re-

covered the wealth (in one case from a very elaborate hiding place) beforeslaying the thieves for their temerity and sacrilegious behavior.

The church of Waukeen holds many festivals, and such holy rituals asthe Cleaving and the bestowal of the Mark are usually performed at one ofthem. Other features of such gatherings always include assembly at a spotwhere hymns are sung to the goddess (often a pond or well where faithfulworshipers can throw in their coins and pray), a parade in full finery fromthat place to the temple (accompanied by music, and sometimes by un-wanted pranksters who throw stones, eggs, and refuse at the gaudily-dressedclergy), and a solemn sermon, any holy rite scheduled, and then a feast thatgoes on into the wee hours. If no holy rite is scheduled to be celebrated,then one is not held and its place in the service is taken by a public Prayerto the Lady Waukeen, given by the senior priest present. The feast is in-volves much merriment because of the freely flowing drink and is alwaysaccompanied by hired entertainment—jugglers, dancers, musicians, story-tellers, contortionists, trained animals with their keepers, and hedge wiz-ards who do sleight-of-hand tricks and minor cantrips.

Each temple can add its own festivals to the roster for whatever reason,but all important communities of Waukeen-worshipers celebrate the dozenHigh Festivals: Cold Counting Comfort, Great Weave, Highcoin, Spheres,Sammardach (SAM-mahr-dock), Brightbuckle, Sornyn (SOR-nihn), Hul-dark, Spryndalstar (SPRIHN-dahl-star), Marthoon, Tehennteahan (Teh-HEN-tee-ah-han), and Orbar.

Olehm, an aged patriarch of huge size and impressive white-browed mien.He is assisted by no fewer than five ambitious, beautiful women of variousages and backgrounds, the “Five Furies”: Barasta Cleeith, Daerea Ethgil,Faerthae Garblueth, Halanna Jashire, and Sariila Tebrentan. These womenare all Overgold sisters who pursue a vicious game of quiet in-fighting to be-come Tharundar’s successor as the supreme head of the church of Waukeenin Faerûn.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Waukeen as no church affiliated

Cold Counting Comfort occurs on the 15th of Hammer and is namedfor the accounting that goes on in many businesses during this down timeat the height of the harsh winter. Great Weave is celebrated on the 20th ofAlturiak and is named for the tapestry-weaving practiced in all wealthyhouseholds throughout the winter and the textile-making to which clothmerchants devote this month.

Highcoin is celebrated on the 30th of Ches. It is a grand feast when spo-ken accolades, accompanied by trumpet fanfares, hail the wealthy foramassing such worth and offerings are amassed for the next festival,Spheres. Spheres is held on the 10th of Tarsakh. During this festival glassspheres filled with gems and coins are paraded around a city and thenlobbed into the air by catapults to fall into the city, shatter, and spill outtheir contents at random for the general populace to snatch up.

Sammardach occurs on the 12th of Mirtul. This observance is named forthe richest benefactor of the early church, a merchant so rich that he oncebought a city—now-vanished Tsabran, which stood just southeast of Air-spur along the Chessentan coast, and gave it with all its properties and busi-nesses to the Waukeenar. Brightbuckle is held on the 21st of Kythorn. Theadvent of good weather is marked by a parade in finery of all who wish toattend a Waukeenar church feast, of whatever faith—and Waukeen’spriests give inspirational talks about the growing wealth of the lands aroundand show recent works of the Lady through (hired) illusion spells in hopesof encouraging new worshipers to join the faith or the priesthood.

The 3rd through the 5th of Flamerule is Sornyn, a festival marking thetime for planning, the making of treaties and agreements, and the receivingof envoys from unknown lands and traditional foes. Much wine is drunk atthis three-day occasion, when “my enemy is like a brother to me.” Huldarkis celebrated on the 17th of Elesias. It is a feast wherein the bounty of theland, which feeds and sustains us all, is celebrated, and faithful of Waukeenplant new fruit trees or vegetable plants.

Spryndalstar occurs on the 7th of Eleint. Spryndalstar recognizes howmagic and the ideas of those who work with it have enriched us all: Wau-keenar sponsor mages in their endeavors and hire wizards to cast spells toawe and entertain folk in public spectacles. The 1st of Marpenoth marksMarthoon, the church’s recognition of the vigilance and work of soldiersand guards in defending the wealth and the security of those who generateit. During Marthoon, such folk are feasted and given gifts of gold—andeach major temple sponsors one lucky warrior into retirement by givinghim or her 10 times his or her weight in common coin and a steading toenjoy it on.

Tehennteahan is held on the 10th of Uktar. It is known as the Night ofHammers and Nails and is a day-long feast in which Waukeenar salute theinventions of simple folk—smiths, crafters, and those who work with theirhands and not magic—and how their works benefit us all. New innovationsare demonstrated, shops are shut so that their keepers can join in the feast-ing, and the church buys all rights to certain inventions for a room full of-gold per invention purchases. (The room has to be one in the inventor’shouse, end the church fills it to the rafters with gold coin.) Orbar, held onthe 25th of Nightal, rounds out the yearly festivals. It is a solemn remem-berance of the dark side of wealth. Prayers are said for those driven mad bygold or their miserliness, those slain by thieves and brigands, those who

died trying to steal, or who met their ends adventuring or mining after gold,and like people. The public is invited to a Candle Feast wherein well-loveddeceased merchants are remembered with praise, and the church remindsall in the community that it has the power to trace and hunt down thieveswho steal the wealth of those who worship Waukeen—and will use it.

Major Centers of Worship: The former center of Waukeen worship,the Goldspires, a Large fortified castle-abbey whose towers are adorned withgilded conical roofs that rises high above Athkatla on its own seafront crag,is the only remaining large enclave of Waukeenar. This House of All Plenty(a term given to ail major temples of Waukeen) is really a small fortifiedcity in its own right and is said to be supported by no fewer than seven ris-ing merchant houses of Amn, who see it as their only way to true power inthe land in the face of the might of the older merchant families who rule.The Goldspires is ruled by the Holycoin Voice of the Lady Tharundar

knightly orders. It readily sponsors adventuring companies who can preventa reasonable prospect of showing a profit and promise a 20% tithe to thechurch, and it often hires mercenary andadventuring companies to guardtrade caravans and shipments of churchtrade goods overseas. Persistentrumor holds that many individual Waukeenar (if not the church itself)have long-standing connections with the Iron Throne.

Priestly Vestments: Waukeen’s clergy members are among the mostlavishly dressed, rivaling those of Sune, Milil, and Lathander in their richrobes. Waukeenar ritual garb is gaudy and ornate, with white silk undergar-ments, slashed and fluted sleeves and boots, pince-nez and lorgnettes (if thepriests have any weakness of vision), various useful items dangling from silkribbons, and tall gilded and begemmed miters. Tunics, trousers, hose, ortabards may be worn as desired (or as the season makes practical), but theseare always of the finest, most costly fabrics and furs, dyed and arranged forthe most vibrant display possible. The entire ensemble is covered by agilded scarlet cloak heavily with the weight of thousands of wheels, plates,clasps, and flourishes of various precious metals. The costume is finished offwith white gloves and a gilded rod or staff, which is either magical or or-nately carved and set with gems. (Many Waukeens carry staffs of curing soas to heal wounds in return for substantial donations to the church. Thesestaffs of curing represent the sole major magical energy left in the church atthe present.) High clergy usually wear coronets with their miters, and out-shine many monarchs with their garb.

Adventuring Garb: Waukeenar wear the clothing of rich merchantswhen in the streets, and armor that is gilded, white-enameled, and paintedwith elaborate scenes when they ride into danger. They use chariots en-chanted to make them float or ornate curtained palanquins. (Horses stillpull the chariots, but the weight is much less and the ride both fast andsmooth.)

Specialty Priests (Goldeyes)REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 14, Intelligence 12, Charisma 17PRIME REQ. Wisdom, CharismaALIGNMENT: NWEAPONS: All bludgeoning (wholly Type B) weaponsARMOR: AnyMAJOR SpHERESS: Astral, charm, creation, divination, guardian, healing,

necromantic, protection, travelers, weatherMINOR SPHERES: All, elemental, summoning, sun, wardsMAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clericsREQ. PROFS: EtiquetteBONUS PROFS: Appraising, gem cutting, modern languages (pick a lan-

guage)• Goldeyes can either command or turn undead creatures whenever they

encounter them, but all creatures in any given group must be eitherturned or commanded, not both.

• Goldeyes can select nonweapon proficiencies from both the priest androgue groups with no crossover penalty.

• Goldeyes have the ability to discern true metal from false. They cannotidentify metal oer se, but can determine if a supposedly gold coins is trulygold or a gold-plated lead fake, or even if it was created magically (say, bya djinn). They do this by hefting the item in their hands and thinking of

what the material should be. For mixed metals, they get a “partial” resultfor those metals which are a significant component of the alloy.

• Goldeyes are never harmed by lock lurkers; lock lurkers simply avoidthem and refuse to strike them if possible. If trapped or picked up by agoldeye, they may be tamed and trained if the goldeye has the animaltraining proficiency. (Lock lurkers are detailed in FRQ1 The HauntedHalls of Eveningstar and the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Annual VolumeOne.)

• When they are admitted into the priesthood, goldeyes are gifted withmaximum starting money (180 gp) and three magical items acquired forthem through the wealth of the church. Goldeyes receive these threemagical items for free at 1st level. They must pick one item from eachcategory: containers, conveniences, and miscellaneous. (Descriptions ofthese items are found in the DUNGEON MASTER Guide, the Tome ofMagic, or the ENCYCLOPEDIA MAGICA™ books.) The church does notreplace items later destroyed or used up.

Containers: Heward’s handy haversack, girdle of many pouches, pouchof accessibility.

Conveniences: Crystal parrot, everbountiful soup kettle, fur ofwarmth, must tent, Murlynd’s spoon, sheet of smallness, wind fan, wand ofPrime Material pocket, Regular’s gloves of freedom, Skie’s locks and bolts.

Miscellaneous: Jewel of flawlessness, Murdock’s insect ward, Nolzur’smarvelous pigments, oil of slipperiness, oil of etherealness, powder of coagula-tion, sovereign glue, universal solvent.

• Once a day, goldeyes are able to confuse people they are speaking withabout the value of numbers as if they were wearing a brooch of numbernumbing. Victims with whom they are conversing receive a saving throwvs. spell. If the saving throw is failed, the victims forget the relativevalue of numbers and cannot remember if five is greater than three ortens are smaller than hundreds. Further, victims do not recognize theirinability to remember the values of numbers. While under the influenceof this ability, they believe that all numbers are pretty much the same.They accept any claim pertaining to numbers and almost any financialdeal set before them. They do remember the relative value of coins(that gold pieces are worth more than silver pieces), but not the exactconversion rates.

This ability lasts only while the goldeye is present and for ld4+2turns thereafter. Once the effect wears off, victims regain their normalunderstanding of numbers and remember exactly what they did and saidunder the effect of this ability, though they do not necessarily know thecause of their behavior.

• At 3rd level, goldeyes are able to detect metals or minerals once a dayfor up to two turns as if they themselves were wands of metal and mineraldetection.

• At 3rd level, goldeyes are able cast shocking grasp (as the 1st-level wizardspell) once day.

• At 5th level, goldeyes are able cast know customs (as the 3rd-level priestspell) once day.

• At 5th level, goldeyes are able to function as if they carried a rod ofsplendor for a one-day period once a tenday. During this tune, they arebestowed with an effective Charisma of 18 and their garments andarmor appear to be of the finest quality and condition, through no newgarments are actually created.

• At 7th level, goldeyes are able to cast probability control, addition, or firepurge (as the 4th-level priest spells) once a day.

• At 7th level, goldeyes gain the ability to create fancy clothes once everytenday. Apparel created (which cannot be armor) 15 made to fit thegoldeye using the ability and appears upon the goldeye when the abilityis used. The outfit created cannot be specified exactly but always fits theuse the goldeye had in mind when calling on the ability. The garmentsare made of the finest fabrics with adornments of fur and jewels. The ap-parel remains in existence unless the goldeye attempts to sell any part ofit or any part of it is forcibly taken from him or her, whereupon all of theoutfit immediately disappears. Except in these conditions, outfits mayhe removed and stored for later use and can be dispelled by the goldeyewho created them at any time, but are otherwise permanent.

• At 10th level, goldeyes are able to cast cloud of purification, grounding, orshrieking walls (as the 5th-level priest spell) once a day.

• At 10th level, goldeyes gain the ability to create a palatial tent which lastsfor a day once even tenday. The tent is a huge pavilion of silk encom-passing between 1,500 and 3000 square feet and containing temporaryfurnishings and food suitable to the splendor of the pavilion and in suffi-cient supply to entertain as many as 100 persons. This tent remains for anadditional day per two level, of the goldeye above 10th until the goldeye

reaches 30th level, at which point the tent can remain for 10 days, themaximum. If summoned in other than a mild climate and good weather,the magic attempts to produce a tent more suitable for the weather andmade of fine, decorated canvas, waterproof sealskin, expertly craftedrushes or bark, or furs, but such tents are smaller to better withstand windsand inclement weather and the number of people that can be entertainedis cut in half to 50 for rainy weather or down to 25 for cold weather.

• At 15th level, goldeyes may convey Waukeen’s curse upon those who of-fend Waukeen or her church. To do this, they must touch offenders orstrike them with a thrown coin (no saving throw allowed). Circum-stances will always arrange themselves to cause cursed beings to losemoney, be robbed, suffer a disaster, be heavily taxed, be unable to selltheir goods, and so on, until the curse is lifted. Such cursed beings nevermake a profit at any endeavor (though they may break even) until thecurse is lifted by the goldeye that imposed it or a remove curse cast by ahigher-level priest of Waukeen than one who delivered Waukeen’s curseIf a person is not deserving of the curse, Waukeen does not allow it to heenacted, and the priest who attempted to bestow it must atone to thegoddess before she or he again receives any more spells or is allowed touse any special abilities.

Waukeenar Spells1st LevelTruemetal (Divination)Sphere: DivinationRange:Components:

10 yardsS

Duration: 1 roundCasting Time: 4Area of Effect: A 30-foot-radius, 90-degree arc in the direction the

caster is facingSaving Throw: NoneThis spell enables the caster to detect the true consistency and componentsof any metal that is within range and in the general direction (90° arc) thepriest is facing when the spell is completed or that enters this area duringthat round. The spell also tells whether such metal radiates a dweomer ornot. Though this spell can be used to find concealed money or weapons orreveal magical weapons, it is usually employed to ferret out false coins,coinage containing lead or made of a thin coating of one metal over an-other, and magical or enspelled coins, once a common method of harmingor spying on a rival merchant is with magic carried by a coin that passesinto the rival’s possession.

3rd LevelSummon Lock Lurker (Evocation)Sphere: Summoning, AnimalRange: 10 yardsComponents: V, S, MDuration: 8 hoursCasting Time: 6Area of Effect: SpeedSaving Throw: NoneWithin one round of casting this spell, the priest magically conjures ld3lock lurkers. (Lock lurkers are detailed in FRQ1 The Haunted Halls ofEveningstar and the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One.) Thelock lurkers appear in an area within spell range, as desired by the caster.They follow simple instructions of the caster, who is conveyed the ability tocommunicate basic concepts verbally to them for the duration of the spell(though the caster cannot understand the lurkers in turn). They are typi-cally set to guard treasure, small areas such as the interiors of chests, bags, orpouches, or the person of the caster.

These creatures do not check morale. They vanish when slain or whenthe spell duration expires.

The material component of this spell is a gold coin.

4th LevelDoublecoin (Evocation)Sphere: CreationRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: PermanentCasting Time: 7Area of Effect: One coinSaving Throw: Special

This spell consumes a single coin or metal disc and replaces it with two iden-tical coins. The coins are absolutely identical, not just similar in type, and soscratches, special markings, and the like are reproduced. The spell destroysany dweomer that may be in existence on the coins. The spell is silent, but afaint, momentary glow accompanies the permanent change it causes. Eachtune the spells is cast, the caster must make a saving throw vs. spell. If thesaving throw succeeds, the spell is executed as intended and nothing unto-ward occurs. If the saving throw fails, the caster suffers the permanent loss of1 hit point, but gains 2d12 additional exact duplicate coins out of thin air.Although this magic affects coinage of any size and value, it can only workon metal, not on gems, wood trade tokens, or coinage made of a combina-tion of materials where at least one component is nonmetallic.

The material component of this spell is a single coin or metal disc.

5th LevelMinor Wealthtwist (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Healing, NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 8Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis spell transforms gems, trade bars, and/or coinage of a value of 250 gpper spell level into one of the following spells, chosen by the caster and en-acted instantly on him or through his touch on another being: cure lightwounds, cure blindness or deafness, cure disease, cure serious wounds, or neu-tralize poison. If insufficient funds exist for a chosen spell, the caster is in-stantly made aware of this, and if enough additional funds cannot betouched within the two rounds of the spell’s casting, the caster will have tosettle for a lesser spell effect or waste the magic altogether.

This spell is often used by Waukeenar as a special boon to Waukeen-worshiping merchants who are willing to make substantial donations to thechurch in return for some extra protection.

The material component for this spell is the wealth needed to cast thelevel of spell desired.

7th LevelWealthtwist (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Healing, NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 2 roundsArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: None

This spell transforms gems, trade bars, and/or coinage of a value of 250 gpper spell level into one of the following spells, chosen by the caster and en-acted instantly on him or through his touch on another being: cure lightwounds, cure blindness or deafness, cure disease, cure serious wounds, neutralizepoison, cure critical wounds, heal, regenerate, and dimension door. If insuffi-cient funds exist for a chosen spell, the caster is instantly made aware ofthis, and if enough additional funds cannot be touched within the tworounds of the spell’s casting, the caster will have to settle for a lesser spell ef-fect or waste the magic altogether.

This spell is often used by Waukeenar as a special boon to Waukeen-worshiping merchants who are willing to make substantial donations to thechurch in return for some extra protection.

The material component for this spell is the wealth needed to cast thelevel of spell desired.

Wealthword (Alteration, Necromancy)Sphere: Healing, NecromanticRange: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: SpecialCasting Time: 2 roundsArea of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: NoneThis variant of the wealthtwist spell transforms gems, trade bars, and/orcoinage of a value of 500 gp per spell levelinto one of the following spells:cure light wounds, cure blindness or deafness, cure disease, cure serious wounds,neutralize poison, cure critical wounds, heal, regenerate, and dimension door. Ifinsufficient funds exist for a chosen spell, the caster is instantly made awareof this, and if enough additional funds cannot be touched within the tworounds of the spell’s casting, the caster will have to settle for a lesser spell ef-fect or waste the magic altogether.

The priest casts wealthword into the mouth of another being by touch,whispering a word of activation as she or he does so. If the tongue touchedever speaks that word, the spell effect instantly occurs, even if this befallsyears later. For example, a nonspellcasting merchant who has a wealthwordcast on him—with the necessary loss of cash—loses an arm in a brigand at-tack years later, gasps out the secret word—and regains his arm.

The spell recipient need not have any familiarity with magic, but mustbe able to utter the word of activation to enact the waiting spell effectThere is no known way to remove this waiting protection from a being; dis-pel magic has no effect on it at all.

This spell is sometimes used by Waukeenar as a special boon to Wau-keen-worshiping merchants who are willing to make substantial donationsto the church in return for some extra protection.

The material component for this spell is the wealth needed to cast thelevel of spell desired.

TThis appendix lays out the basic classes of the priest group in use in the FORGOTTEN REALMS

campaign setting other than the many specifically defined specialty priests detailed in theentries for each of the deities discussed in the bulk of this book. The Player’s Handbook(PHB) describes two types of priests: clerics and specialty priests. While clerics are in-tended to serve as a generic model for an adventuring priest character, specialty priests re-

flect the aims and powers of the different deities of the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting. The druid is pre-sented in the Player Handbook as an example of a specialty priest, representing any power that standsfor nature—or even Nature itself. This appendix describes six types of priests. Three of them—the cru-sader, monk, and shaman—are introduced in PLAYER’ S OPTION: Spells & Magic. They are repeated herefor those who do not own that product, since they have been officially adopted into the ranks of theFORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting’s priest group. In addition, another type of “generic” priest is in-troduced here: the mystic.

Clerics: Clerics are militant priests who serve as knights-templar, defenders of the faith, andguardians of a faith’s holy places. More than any other kind of priest, clerics tend to become part of themany adventuring bands that roam the face of Faerûn. They have very good fighting skills, a wide arrayof spells to choose from, and the ability to turn undead creatures.

Crusaders: Crusaders are closely related to clerics, but while clerics can be described as defenders ofthe faith, crusaders are weapons against the enemies of the temple they serve. They are true soldier-priests, skilled in physical combat and armed with spells appropriate for the battlefield. The crusadersdetailed in this appendix and referred to throughout Faiths & Avatars are not the crusader class pre-sented in Warriors and Priests of the Realms. The crusader class of Warriors and Priests of the Realms ishenceforth known as the holy crusader, not the crusader class.

Druids: Druids are priests of nature. They are the protectors of the forests and wild places and stew-ards over all living things placed in their charge. Druids are weaker in physical combat than clerics orcrusaders, but their spheres of access include a number of powerful offensive and defensive elementalspells. In addition, they enjoy several unique granted powers.

Monks: Monks are cloistered priests and adepts who seek enlightenment through the rigoroustraining of mind, body, and spirit. Monks are extremely skilled in unarmed combat and have access toseveral unusual spheres of spells.

Mystics: Mystics are individualistic, itinerant priests. They believe that to serve their deities theyneed to experience the world, learn about its hidden nature. and learn how their own inner selves re-late to outward things. They have very arresting personalities and can project their inner strength toinfluence others through a number of charming powers. Mystics are relatively weak in a toe-to-toebattle, but have diverse resources to call upon in spellmagic, magical items created through mastery ofherbalism and candle magic, healing, and charm-typepowers. Because of their personal, free-form ap-proach toward enlightenment they are often hermits, midwives, and adventurers.

Shamans: Shamans are priests of barbaric or savagecultures. They serveas guides and protectors fortheir tribes. Shamans have fair combat ability and spellaccess, but they alsocommand the spirits of an-imals, ancestors, and nature. The shaman is a good choice for any priest player character who comesfrom a barbaric or nomadic culture

Default Class CharacteristicsUnless an exception is mentioned in the description of these classes, the following qualities apply asbaseline abilities to the classes discussed here:

l Priests use a d8 for hit points.l All priest classes progress in experience points as on the Expanded Priest Experience Levels table

that follows on the next page.l Priests gain spells as on Table 24: Priest Spell Progression in the PHB. For priests of levels over 20,

consult the Extended Priest Spell Progression table in the Powers of the Realms chapter.l Priests progress in THAC0s as priests on Table 53: Calculated THAC0s in the PHB. For priests of

levels over 20, consult the Extended Calculated THAC0s table in the Powers of the Realms chapter.l Priests gain bonus spells if their Wisdom is 13 or higher, based on Table 5: Wisdom in the PHB.l Priest classes make saving throws as priests on Table 60: Character Saving Throws in the PHB.• Priests gain weapon and nonweapon proficiency slots as priests on Table 34: Proficiency Slots in the

PHB.l Priests purchase nonweapon proficiencies from the general and priest groups at no extra cost.l Priests may begin creating scrolls at 7th level, brewing a few potions (mainly those of the healing

type) at 9th level, and fabricating magical items at 11th level according to the Researching MagicalItems section of the Treasure and Magical Items chapter of the DUNGEON MASTER Guide.

Racial Class Limitations andLevel RestrictionsIn general, the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting allows a few more races to be-long to certain classes than the core rules for the AD&D game would per-mit. Character race and class combinatians normally not allowed in theAD&D game rules (or PLAYER’S OPTION: Spells & Magic, from which someof these classes are drawn) are marked in this chapter and the table belowwith a dagger symbol (†). Dungeon Masters are free to exclude these racesfrom the given classes.

In the deity entries in Faiths & Avatars, some nonhuman races are al-lowed to be clergy members of these primarily human faiths. Unless a raceis one of the normal player character races from the PHB, clergy membersof that race are assumed to be nonplayer characters unless the DM allowsplayer characters of that race in his or her campaign.

It is suggested that DMs pursue the optional Slow Advancement rule inRacial Level Restrictions section of the DMG to allow demihumans unlim-ited level advancement in the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting. Specifically, it isrecommended that demihumans be allowed to rise normally to their racial“maximum” level and then be required to earn triple normal experiencepoints to advance beyond that point. Racial level limitations for the priestclasses dealt with in this appendix are:

Racial Class and Level LimitsHuman Dwarf Elf Gnome Half-elf Halfling

Cleric U 10 12 9 14 8Crusader U 13 12 - 12† -

Druid U - 12† - 9 -Monk U - - - - -Mystic U - 12 - 14 13Shaman U - - - - -

Kit UsageUnless specially noted in the text presented in this book, in no case may akit be used with the specialty priest classes presented in Faiths & Avatars.Many kits for different types of clerics and priests are presented in Warriorsand Priests of the Realms. These kits are applicable to the cleric class only.They are not intended to be fitted to any of the other priest classes. Thesekits are optional, although they were constructed for use in the FORGOTTEN

REALMS setting, as are other priest kits found elsewhere in FORGOTTEN

REALMS products. Other kits presented in the Complete line of hooks (TheComplete Priest’s Handbook, The Complete Druid’s Handbook, etc.) should beused only with the consent of the Dungeon Master after she or he has con-sidered what effects allowing the kit in question into his or her campaignwill have.

Spheres of AccessThe standard spheres from the Player’s Handbook are the spheres of all, ani-mal, astral, charm, combat, creation, divination, elemental, guardian, heal-ing, necromantic, plant, protection, summoning, sun, and weather. In addi-tion, the Tome of Magic adds the spheres of chaos, law, numbers, thought,time, travelers, war, and wards, and breaks the elemental sphere into thelesser spheres of elemental air, earth, fire, and water. Consult the appendixlisting all the spheres at the back of the Tome of Magic for a complete listingof priest spells by sphere.

ReIigion-Specific Spells and SpheresMany churches have been given specific spells by their deities that onlypriests of their religion are allowed to cast. Priests of a particular religioncan always cast these religion-specific spells, even if the spells do not fallwithin their normally allowed spheres of access.

Sphere CorrectionsNote the following corrections to the designations of spells to certainspheres: Summon insects (3rd-level, animal sphere) also belongs to thesummoning sphere. Reflecting pool (4th-level, divination sphere) also be-longs to the elemental sphere and the lesser elemental water sphere. Com-mune with nature (5th-level, divination sphere) also belongs to the ele-mental sphere and all the lesser elemental spheres. Elemental forbiddance(5th-level, elemental sphere) also belongs to all the lesser elementalspheres. Conjure fire elemental (6th-level, elemental and elemental fire

Level123456789

1011121314151617181920

Expanded Priest Experience Levels

Cleric0

1,5003,0006,000

13,00027,50055,000

110,000225,000450,000675,000900,000

1,125,0001,350,0001,575,0001,800,0002,025,0002,250,0002,475,0002,700,000

Druid

2,0004,0007,500

12,50020,00035,00060,00090,000

125,000200,000300,000750,000

1,500,0003,000,0003,500,000

500,000*1,000,0001,500,0002,000,000

0

Specialty

(d8)0

2,0004,0007,500

12,50020,00035,00060,00090,000

125,000200,000300,000750,000

1,500,0003,000,0003,500,0004,000,0004,500,0005,000,0005,500,000

99+29+49+69+8

9+109+129+149+169+189+209+22

7

23

HitDice

1

456

8

*See the rules for hierophant druids in the Player’s HandbookClerics: Clerics gain an additional level for every 225,000 experi-

ence points above 2,700,000. They gain an additional 2 hit points forevery level after 20. They gain additional spells as shown on the Ex-tended Priest Progression Table in the Powers of the Realms chapter.

Druids: Druids gain an additional level for every 500,000 experi-ence points above2,000,000 after level 20. They gain an additional 2hit points for every level after 20. They gain additional spells as shownon the Extended Priest Progression Table.

Specialty Priests: Specialty priest gain an additional level forevery 500,000 experience points above 5,500,000. They gain an addi-tional 2 hit points for every level after 20. They gain additional spells asshown on the Extended Priest Progression Table.

spheres) also belongs to the summoning sphere. Mind tracker (7th-level,divination sphere) also belongs to the thought sphere, and the spell “mind-killer” in the Tome of Magic is a misprint for this spell.

Paladins and RangersThough paladins andrangers are not priests, they receive their spells fromdivine powers. At the appropriate experience level, paladins can draw spellsfrom the spheres of combat, divination, healing, law, and protection. At theappropriate experience level, rangers can draw spells from the animal, plant,and travelers spheres. At least one Faerûnian deity, Mielikki, has one type ofspecialty priest that is defined as a ranger. The base class for this type of “spe-cialty priest” is the ranger class, and only the specific notations in that entrychange the normal parameters of that class as defined in the Player’s Hand-book. It is not recommended that when a specialty priest is defined inm thisfashion that the DM allow a kit to he used in addition to the basic class (un-less specifically mentioned in the specialty priest description).

ClericABILITY REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 9PRIME REQUISITE: WisdomRACES ALLOWED: All

The cleric is the most common type of priest, a suitable representative for avariety of powers. Clerics are sturdy soldiers with formidable spell powers,defenders of the faith and proselytizers. Overall, they are the most versatileand well-rounded priest characters. Clerics with Wisdom scores of 16 orbetter earn a +10% bonus to their experience gained. Clerics may be of anyalignment acceptable to their patron deities.

Clerics in the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting have major access to thespheres of all, astral, charm, combat, creation, divination, guardian, heal-ing, necromantic, protection, summoning, sun, and wards. They also havemajor access to the chaos or law sphere, depending on their alignment;neutral clerics get to pick from either law or chaos, but must stick to thatchoice from then on. Clerics have minor access to the elemental, travelers,and war spheres.

Clerics retain all the powers and abilities described in the Player’s Hand- saders do not need to establish a permanent place of worship to attractbook. They may wear any armor and use any wholly Type B (bludgeoning) these followers. Since they are great battle leaders, the soldiers will serveweapon. (No combination weapon types are allowed.) They may also wield them as free-roving companies if no strongholds are available. At 9th level,a variety of magical items. Clerics turn undead and attract followers as de- a crusader may receive official sanction to establish a religious strongholdscribed in the PHB. At 9th level, a cleric may receive permission from his or fortified temple.or her order to establish a religious stronghold and govern it in the name ofthe faith. DruidCrusader ABILITY REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 12, Charisma 15

PRIME REQUISITE:ABILITY REQUIREMENTS:

Wisdom, CharismaStrength 12, Wisdom 9, Charisma 12 RACES ALLOWED: Human, elf?, half-elf

PRIME REQUISITES: Strength, WisdomRACES ALLOWED:

Druids are specialty priests who fulfill the needs of nature deities. TheirHuman, dwarf, elf, half-elf†

greatest concern is for the continuation of the orderly and proper cycles ofCrusaders are priests of deities of war, combat, or conflict who stand at the nature. They are charged with protecting the earth and the wilderness, es-forefront of the fight for their faiths. Crusaders must be either lawful or pecially trees, wild plants, wild animals, and crops. They realize the needschaotic in alignment. In other words, crusaders may be of any alignment that people have to use natural resources, but they despise and act outexcept neutral evil, neutral good, or true neutral. Since they are often against unnecessary destruction, exploitation, and excess. Aside from acalled upon to lead the forces of their faith into battle, crusaders require generous amount of practical wisdom, druids need strong personalities tohigh Strength and Charisma scores in addition to a minimum Wisdom of 9. deal with problems in the field where there is often no temple organizationHigh Constitution or Dexterity scores are also very useful for a crusader. to back them up. Druids with Wisdom and Charisma scores of 16 or betterCrusaders with Wisdom and Strength scores of 16 or better gain a 10% earn a +10% bonus to their experience gained. Druids are can only be ofbonus to the experience points they earn. Crusaders progress in experiencetrue neutral alignment.levels as clerics. Druids in the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting have as their base

While crusaders are often associated with war gods spheres of access major access to the all, animal, elemental,they may also represent powers of leadership or strong healing,plant, and weather spheres. They also have minoralignment that are in conflict with opposing forces. access to the divination sphere. Almost all druids of theCrusaders often organize themselves into a mili- Realms venerate specific deities rather than nature astary hierarchy and view their temples as fortifica- a disembodied concept. These deities modify thetions as well as places of worship. In some cases, spheres to which their druids have access, and thusthe power of the crusader orders can rival the the listing for spheres of access under an individualstrength of the kingdom that hosts them, a situ- deity takes precedence over this general list.ation that sometimes provokes popular resent- Druids retain all the powers and abilities de-ment or suspicion. However, no one questions scribed in the Player’s Handbook and in additiontheir ability and resolve in time of war. gain any new powers or other capabilities given

In the adventuring party, crusaders are nat- them under a specific deity entry. In general, theyural leaders whose place is in the front lines of may wear only “natural” armor, which includesany battle. When possible, crusaders should padded, leather, or hide armor and shields madetake steps to prepare their comrades for battle from wood, bone, shell, or any similar nonmetal-through the use of bless, prayer, aid, and simi- lic substance. They may wear magical armor oflar spells. They also can make use of healing the same types. For weapons, a druid may usespells to assist those who fall in valiant battle. only the club, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, scimitar,

Crusaders excel in personal combat, and sling, and staff. Druids may use all magical itemsare nearly as skilled as a warrior of the same normally allowed to priests, except for those thatlevel. They may employ any kind of armor or are written (books and scrolls) and armor andshield and learn the use of any weapon, al- weapon types not normally allowed for druids.though particular orders of crusaders may prefer Druids cannot turn undead. They can selectweapons of a certain type—for example, knightly nonweapon proficiencies from the general, priest, orweapons, bows (perhaps for elf crusaders), or battle warrior groups at no extra cost. They make their sav-axes (for dwarf crusaders), and so on. To represent their ing throws as priests, but gain a bonus of +2 to all savingskill at arms, THAC0s of crusader characters improve at the throws vs. fire or electrical attacks. They speak a secretwarrior’s rate of 1 per level. A 2nd-level crusader has a THAC0 tongue (which does not cost them a nonweapon proficiency slot toof 19 instead of 20, a 3rd-level crusader has a THAC0 of 18, and so on. learn) understandable only by other druids, regardless of which power those

Crusaders are considered to have a nonweapon proficiency crossover druids venerate. They gain many granted powers upon reaching higher lev-with the warrior group and may learn warrior proficiencies at no extra cost. els such as: the identification of plants, animals, and pure watter (3rd); theThey may use any magical item normally usable by priests or by fighters. In ability to pass through overgrown areas without leaving a trail at normaladdition, if the DM allows, lawful good crusaders may gain the same bene- movement rate (3rd); the tongues of woodland creatures (one each level,fits as paladins do when wielding a holy avenger sword. starting at 3rd); an immunity to the charm spells and spell-like abilities of

While crusaders are formidable soldiers, they also retain a good selection woodland creatures (7th); and the ability to shapechange into a reptile,of spells that are particularly useful on the battlefield. Crusaders have major bird, or mammal three times a day (7th). Beyond 15th level, druids gainaccess to the spheres of all, combat, guardian, healing, war, and wards. They special hierophant druid powers detailed in the Player’s Handbook.have minor access to the protection and necromantic spheres. In addition, The model for organization of most druidic faiths is discussed in A Grandlawful crusaders have major access to the sphere of law, and chaotic cru- Tour of the Realms in the revised FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting box.saders have major access to the sphere of chaos. In summary, most druids form circles, which fulfill for druids the same orga-

Crusaders cannot turn undead, but at 3rd level they gain the granted nizational needs that church or temple hierarchies do for most other priests.power to cast lighten load (from the Tome of Magic) once per day. This spell These circles consist of a dozen or so druids and 20 or so affiliated rangerseffectively halves the weight of equipment and gear for a day, reducing a and other allies (other people, or even woodland creatures, or similar sen-party’s encumbrance. At 7th level, the crusader may cast easy march twice a tient allies appropriate to the region). Circles can be tightly centeredtenday (once per week in settings other than the FORGOTTEN REALMS cam- around a particular wood or grove, or widely scattered over a region. Druidspaign setting), which basically allows a small party to force march without of the same circle may worship different deities, though in general, druids ofaccumulating fatigue penalties. the same circle tend to worship the same power. Powers commonly wor-

Crusaders gain followers much as clerics do. When a crusader reachesshiped in the Realms include Chauntea, Eldath, Silvanus, and Mielikki.8th level, she or he automatically attracts 20 to 200 fanatical followers. The Elemental Lords are also rumored to be worshiped by some druids, butThese followers are normal 0-level soldiers armed and equipped with weap- not as patron deities. Player character druids do not begin play as membersons appropriate for typical soldiers in the campaign. Unlike clerics, cru- of a circle, but may form or join such circles later.

All faiths that include druids among their clergy maintain their ownseparate druid hierarchies. That is, each religion has its own druids, arch-druids, great, and grand druids. Great and grand druids of a particularfaith are singular beings, and each directs activities for druids of his or herfaith within a 500-mile-radius of his or her home. Each is entrusted withthe organization and protection of the circles and other druidic shrineswithin that domain. Interfaith relations between different druidic reli-gions in the Realms are fairly cordial. Conflicts between the faiths aresettled through negotiation or, failing that, ritual or personal combat.

The precise borders of a great druid�s domain are nebulous at best, butthere are five known major regions within Faerûn. The first and eldest ison the southern shores of the Sea of Fallen Stars, and includes the Gulth-mere Forest and the Chondalwood. The second is located in the scatteredremains of ancient Cormanthor, ranging from Cormyr to the Moonsea,and includes the ancient territories of the Elven Court. The third is lo-cated in the North. It is based in the High Forest but includes all otherforests and woods in the area. The fourth includes all the Moonshaes, andthe fifth encompasses the Forest of Lethyr and the Rawlinswood, theforests surrounding the Great Dale. Other such regions undoubtedly exist.(If the DM chooses to employ the rules presented in the Complete Druid�sHandbook, numerous regions may exist outside of forest settings.)

M o n kABILITY REQUIREMENTS: Constitution 13, Wisdom 15, Intelligence 14PRIME REQUISITES: Wisdom, IntelligenceRACES ALLOWED: Human

Monks are priests who belong to cloistered or monastic orders, withdrawing from the everyday affairs of the world around them to contemplatetheir faith. Powers of philosophy, thought, and scholars are commonlyrepresented by monks, as well as any deity that is not normally worshipedby the common people of an area. Monks must be lawful in alignment, al-though they can be lawful good, lawful neutral, or lawful evil. Whilemonks are often associated with oriental campaigns and settings, monas-tic orders do exist in Faerûn and elsewhere, as well as in Kara-Tur.

Monks believe that rigorous training of body, mind, and spirit leads toenlightenment. Consequently, a character must have high Intelligenceand Constitution scores to qualify for this class. Wisdom and Intelligenceare the prime requisites of the monk, and monk with scores of 16 or bet-ter in these two abilities gain a 10% bonus to the experience points theyearn. Monks progress in experience levels as do clerics.

While monks do not attempt to minister to the masses or gather fol-lowers for their patron deity, they believe in demonstrating the qualitiesof their faith by example. A monastery or abbey 15 a place of learning andstrength that is open to any person who requires shelter, advice, or assis-tance. Other monks choose to leave the abbey and travel widely, settingan example to follow among the people they meet and help. Monasteriesdevoted to evil powers are sinister places where knowledge and wealth arehoarded for the use of the order, regardless of who may need it.

Monks bring a variety of skills to the adventuring party. They aresomewhat like bards in that they are jacks of all trades and masters ofnone. Monks are not front-rank warriors, but they can be very capable in-filtrators and skirmishers. The monk class�s selection of spells allows ac-cess to some of the most unusual and versatile priest spells, even if amonk�s spells tend to be short on sheer combat power. Like other priestcharacters, the monk�s principle role is to support and guide the party.

Monks do not wear armor, since the training of the body requiresquickness, agility, and discipline. Monks see armor and other ironmon-gery as crutches for a people of weak spirit. To compensate, monks aretrained to avoid blows through misdirection and positioning, and theirbase Armor Class improves by one point at every even level (AC 9 at 2ndlevel, AC 8 at 4th level, AC 7 at 6th level, and so on) to a maximum baseArmor Class of 2 at 14th level. Note that a monk must see an attack com-ing in order to use this benefit�backstabs, ambushes, or missile attacksfrom behind a monk will strike the monk as if she or he were unarmored.

Monks may not use magical items that are constructed to resemblearmor or pieces of armor, such as bracers of defense, but they are allowed towear cloaks or rings. Otherwise, they may use any magical item normallyusable by priests. Monks are considered to have a nonweapon proficiencycrossover with all other classes and may learn any proficiency listed at noadditional cost.

Monks enjoy major access to the spheres of all, divination, numbers,thought, and guardian. They have minor access to combat, healing, necro-mantic, and time. Monks cannot turn undead. Beginning at 5th level,monks are entitled to a saving throw vs. spell to block detection, scrying,or mind-reading through magical or psionic means (see the 3rd-level wiz-ard spell nondetection). At 7th level, monks gain the specialgranted power of free action, which duplicates theeffects of the 4th-level priest spell.

Monks never gain followers, but at 9thlevel monks may receive permission toestablish monasteries as outposts of theirorder. If a monk does so, 10 to 40 monkso f l o w e r l e v e l c o m e t o t h e n e wmonastery and take up their studiesthere, recognizing the PC monk asthe head of their abbey.

Monks may employ anywholly Type B weapon incombat, just like thecleric, but they haveexceptional skill inunarmed combat.When monks makean unarmed attack against an armedopponent, they disregard the Weap-ons in Defense rule, since they aretrained in dealing with armed ene-mies. (The Weapons in Defense ruleis found in the Weapons in Non-Lethal Combat subsection of the At-tacking Without Killing section ofthe Combat chapter of the PHB.Normally, this rule allows an armedcharacter to attack first with a +4on attack and damage rollswhen another character makesan unarmed attack against him or her.) In addition, monks begin play witha free weapon proficiency which may be used to specialize in unarmedcombat. Martial arts and other forms of unarmed combat are described indetail in PLAYER�S OPTION: Combat & Tactics. Another system appears inThe Complete Fighter�s Handbook and The Complete Priest�s Handbook. Themartial arts system presented in The Complete Ninja Handbook is not con-sidered here and is not recommended for this class.

Unarmed Combat with The Complete Fighter�s or The CompletePriest�s Handbook: In this system of unarmed combat, monks begin playas punching specialists, wrestling specialists, or martial arts specialists. Ifmonks choose martial arts as their preferred unarmed combat form, theymust spend one of their initial weapon proficiencies to do so, since this ismore difficult than specializing in punching or wrestling.

Specializing in these combat forms gives monks a +1 bonus to attackrolls, a +2 bonus to damage rolls, and a +1 chart bonus with their unarmedattacks. Monks specialized in punching or martial arts gain one extra attackper round, while monks specialized in wrestling gain a +2 bonus to their ef-fective Strength score for purposes of maintaining or breaking holds.

Every fourth level after 1st level (5th, 9th, 13th, etc.), monks gain anadditional free weapon proficiency which can he used to continue special-ization in their chosen mode of combat. Each additional specializationgrants a character an additional +1 to attack and damage rolls, and a +1chart bonus.

Unarmed Combat with PLAYER'S OPTION: Combat & Tactics: Inthis system, monks begin play as described above. If they choose martialarts as their combat form, they must spend one of their initial weapon pro-ficiencies to do so. At 1st level, the character is considered a specialist; at5th level, a master; at 9th level, a high master; and at 13th level, a grandmaster. The exact benefits are described in more detail in Chapter Five ofPLAYER'S OPTION: Combat & Tactics.

Unarmed Combat with only the PHB and the DMG: If a cam-paign uses none of these optional books, monks must choose to be punch-ing or wrestling specialists, since martial arts per se are not described in thePlayer�s Handbook. The paragraph about The Complete Fighter�s Handbookdetails the effects of specialization and continuing specialization for theseforms of unarmed combat.

M y s t i c slots to its purchase. This facility with herbalism allows mystics to identify

ABILITY REQUIREMENTS: Intelligence 11, Wisdom 12, Charisma 15plants and fungi. When mystics reach 5th level, they can make nonmagical

PRIME REQUISITES: Wisdom, Charismapotions and ointments that duplicate the effects of many magical potions—

RACES ALLOWED: Human, elf, half-elf, halflingsee Brewing Potions and Ointments, below. At 7th level, mystics gain theability to use herbal candle magic—see Candle Magic, below.

Mystics often follow deities of beauty, individualism, love, hedonism, cha-risma, self-perfection, darkness, the moon, joy, fertility, motherhood/birth,dance, music, disease, poison, misfortune/fortune, and the seasons. Theyare individualistic and independent by nature, and as such they must bechaotic in alignment. They believe that to serve their deities they need toexperience the world, learn about its hidden beauties and truths, and learnhow their own inner selves relate to outward things. Since they journeythrough life attempting to find answers to their own and others’ personalquestions of faith, they need high Intelligence and Wisdom scores. Theyalso have very arresting personalities, evidenced by their highCharisma scores, that both shape the goals they pursue and pro-vide a driving force for them in times when their faith may be triedor their resolve questioned by others. Mystics with Wisdom andCharisma scores of 16 or better gain a 10% bonus to the experiencepoints they earn. High Dexterity scores are also useful for mysticssince they do not use armor. Mystics progress in experience lev-els as do specialty priests.

At 15th level, mystics are granted longevity by their deities for theirdedicated service. From this point onward, mystics age at only one-tenththe normal rate for their respective racial types, except for magical effects.Spells or items which magically age a mystic in their use or as a form ofdamage still age the mystic the declared amount.

While part of a church, mystics do not normally belong to a structuredhierarchy. They travel and work among the common people as well as thoseof high birth and often live far from large metropolitan areas. They tend tominister to others on a more personal basis than most priests, much like a

physician cares best for one patient at a tune rather than lecturing to a

Mystics shun the use of armor as too restrictive and bind-ing and also because it distorts the natural form and beautyof a person. They cannot wear any armor, although theymay use miscellaneous magical items that resemblepieces of armor if they are beautifully crafted (such asbracers of protection or helms of brilliance). Similarly,mystics are taught that the inherent sources of conflict

room full of the sick. Mystics can be very charismatic, but never leadgroups of more than 10 folk or very long without becoming uncom-fortable and eventually resigning the position or moving on to an-

other territory or interest. The ministry and faith of mystics areper-sonal things that they have difficulty imposing on others outright.

Most mystics either help others find their own parallel pathswithin the parameters of a faith or work behind the scenes

to make others see the validity of their position. Mysticsnever gain followers, nor do they ever set up templesor shrines for others to worship at. They may set upa personal shrine suitable for their own use (and per-haps one or two guests) at any time.

Brewing Potions and OintmentsUpon reaching 5th level, mystics have spent enough timestudying plants and fungi that they are able to begin brewingherbal potions and ointments, including antidotes and poi-sons. Most of these mixtures are not magical and take fromone day to one month to make, although not all of a mystic’s

are only perpetuated by the use of direct violence—onecannot persuade enemies to one’s own way of thinking if theyare dead. Thus, they never master martial weapons and arerestricted to the staff, sling, net, lasso, and whip.

Mystics draw their spells from spheres that connect tothe natural world, that protect or help them in their trav-els, or that help them deal with the faithful to heal or giveadvice. Mystics have major access to the spheres of all, an-imal, charm, divination, healing, protection, summoning,and travelers. They have minor access to the guardian,necromantic, and plant spheres.

Mystics may use any magical item normally usable bypriests with the exception of magical armor and mostmagical weapon, as noted above. Mystics gain a +2 bonus to their saving throws against all forms of charmspells and abilities because of their fiercely independentpersonalities. Even if a charm does not normally allow asave, mytics are allowed a normal saving throw vs. spellto avoid its effect. Mystics cannot turn undead crea-tures. Mystics are also granted the spell-like ability tocause creatures to sleep once a day (exactly as the 1st-level wizard spell).

Mystics are comfortable in the natural world. Theyoften travel through and live in wilderness areas. Mys-tics respect and often befriend animals. At 3rd level,mystics gain the ability to find familiar (as the 3rd-level wizard spell). While this ability may be at-tempted once a year, it cannot be used again

time during that period of time is taken up by the brewing.Rather, different things must be done at different times suchas assembling the initial ingredients, bringing them to asimmer for two days without letting the kettle boil dry,adding certain barks on the third day, cooling the mixture toa certain temperature before adding another ingredient, etc.

Mystics cannot brew potions or compound ointmentswhile traveling on foot or on a mount, although they may beable to do so on a ship if they have access to the correct ingre-dients and tools. Mystics cannot brew multiple potions or oint-ments at the same time; one must be finished before another isbegun. Potions must be ingested and ointments must be appliedto be effective.

Poison Antidotes and Poisons (5th Level+): At 5th level,mystics learn to brew poisons and antidotes to poisons. Note thatthe use of poisons beyond the simple sleep, paralytic, and debilita-

tive concoctions mystics learn to make may be contrary to mys-tics’ alignments or their deities’ tenets. Using poisons that

cause damage or death is generally considered an evilact. It takes one day for mystics to brew antidotes andone tenday to brew poisons (one week in settingsother than the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign set-ting).

while a familiar already found is alive. If a familiar At 5th level, all that mystics can brew is a type offound with this ability dies of natural causes for its species, the mystic needsleep potion that causes up to four people to fall asleep within 1d4+1 min-not make a system shock check or die. She or he loses a point of Constitu- utes unless they make a successful saving throw vs. poison. Alternatively,tion only temporarily—for three months—until the mystic works through they may make a sleep venom usable on up to six darts, bolts, or arrows orthe grieving period for such a life-long companion. A new attempt to find one bladed weapon, but they may not use it themselves. This sleep venoma familiar may be made after this three-month period. Mystics who pur- is the only type of blade venom mystics can ever brew.posefully arrange the deaths of their own familiars lose all spellcasting abil- If the campaign does not use the detailed rules for poison found in theities and special abilities of their class and cannot heal naturally until they Poison section of the Combat chapter of the DMG, then upon reachingatone for their actions through some dangerous quest. At 9th level, mys-7th level mystics may brew ingestive paralytic poisons that leave a size L ortics are able to charm monster twice per tenday (as the 4th-level wizard smaller being unable to move for 2d6 hours (onset 1d4 minutes). Theyspell), and at 13th level, they gain the ability to mass charm twice per ten- also gain the ability to brew antidotes to any poison that does not kill im-day (as the 8th-level wizard spell). (If mystics are used outside the mediately. At 9th level, they gain the ability to brew ingestive debilitatingFORGOTTEN REALMS setting, these two abilities would be usable once a poisons that reduce all ability scores of a size L or smaller ingester by halfweek.) for 1d3 days (onset 2d6 minutes). Upon 13th level, they gain the ability to

Mystics make a life-long study of the medicinal and poisonous uses of brew lethal ingestive poisons (onset 1d4 minutes).plants and fungi. Because of their keen familiarity with plants, mystics gain If a campaign does use the detailed poison rules found in the DMG,the herbalism nonweapon proficiency as a bonus and need not devote anythen mystics can brew additional, more specific types of poison. At 7th

level mystics gain the ability to brew Type G poison (Type G: onset 2d6hours; 20 points of damage if a saving throw vs. poison is failed/no damageif the saving throw succeeds). At 9th and 11th levels, they gain the abilityto brew Types H (onset 1d4 hours; 20 points/10 points) and I (onset 2d6minutes; 30 points/15 points) poisons, respectively. At 13th level, theymay brew Type J (onset 1d4 minutes; death/20 points) poisons in place ofthe general lethal ingestive poison noted above.

Truth Potions (6th): Mystics learn how to brew nonmagical truth po-tions at 6th level. It takes them five days (one week in alternate campaignsettings) to brew a truth potion, When a person ingests a truth potion, she orhe must succeed at a saving throw vs. poison or fall into a stupor and answer1d4 questions truthfully. The stupor prevents the victim from taking offen-sive actions, reduces the victim’s movement by half, and lasts 2d6 turns. Vic-tims may defend themselves against attacks normally. Only humans, demi-humans, and humanoids are affected by the potion, and it is potent for onlya month after it is made. For every level or Hit Die victims possess above thebrewing mystic’s level, they receive a +2 to their saving throws.

Love Potions (7th): At 7th level, mystics add the concoction of non-magical love potions to their capabilities. These function as philters of love.Love potions take five days (one week in alternate campaign settings) tobrew and are potent for a month.

Healing Potions (8th): Mystics can brew nonmagical potions thatwork like potions of healing at 8th level. Healing potions take three days tobrew and are potent for one month.

Extra-Healing Potions and Ointments (9th): At 9th level, mysticscan make magical potions and ointments that function as potions of extra-healing. A potion of extra-healing takes a tenday (two weeks in alternate cam-paign settings) to brew, and extra-healing ointment takes a month to com-pound (but it need not be swallowed). They are potent permanently unlessdispelled, since they are magical.

Flying Potions and Ointments (10th): At 10th level, mystics learnto brew nonmagical flying potions and ointments that work like potions offlying. They allow their imbibers to fly for 10+1d6 turns. A flying potiontakes a tenday (two weeks in alternate campaign settings) to brew, and fly-ing ointment takes one month to concoct. Flying potions remain potent fortwo months, and flying ointments for six months.

Elixirs of Health (12th): At 12th level, mystics can brew magicalelixirs of health. These take one month to brew. As magical potions, they arepotent permanently unless dispelled.

Shape Change Potions (15th): At 15th level, mystics can brew amagical potion that duplicates the 9th-level wizard spell shape change wheningested. Its effects last for 2 turns. It takes one month to brew. Since it is amagical potion, it is potent permanently unless dispelled.

Candle MagicAt 7th level, mystics are able to put their mastery of herbs and influentialmagics together into special magical candles. Mystics may manufacture onecandle per month. For each three days spent in making a candle, the candleburns for one turn, up to a maximum of nine turns (for a candle that took27 days to make). The magic of a candle takes effect when the candle is ei-ther snuffed out or burned down to nothing at the end of its duration. Acandle must be burned in the presence of the intended subject, where ap-propriate, to work. The subject must remain within a radius of 10 feetaround the candle throughout the entire burning time.

Any candle that does not burn continuously for at least one turn has noeffect. A candle that is estinguished midway through a turn is treated asthough it had not burned at all during that turn as regards spell effects, butthat partial turn is counted as a full turn of burning against the maximumduration the candle can burn. Mystics learn how to make new kinds ofcandles as they rise in level and gain proficiency in their craft.

Red Love Candle (7th): At 7th level, mystics learn to make lovecandles. These red candles work on their target as a philter of love. The nor-mal charm effect of a philter is increased, though, to one day for each turn ofburning. Elves, half-elves, and other human, demihumans, humanoid, orsylvan folk normally immune to charm effects are still affected by thiscandle. (Other creatures retain their normal resistances and immunities.)The subject gains no saving throw against the effect. The charm effect can-not be dispelled except by a limited wish, alter reality, or wish spell until theduration expires normally, and the enamoring effect of a philter of love, if itoccurs, lasts until dispelled by a dispel magic or other means.

Blue Protection Candle (9th): Mystics can make protection candles at9th level. These blue candles generate one turn of protection from evil 10’ ra-dius/protection from good 10’ radius. This power has double effects againstevil beings if used by a good mystic or against good beings if used by an evil

mystic. (For example, in the first case evil creatures receive a -4 penalty toattack rolls and protected creatures receive a +4 bonus to saving throws forattacks initiated by evil creatures.)

Purple Truth Candle (11th): At 11th level, mystics learn how tomanufacture truth candles. Victims of a truth candle must succeed at a sav-ing throw vs. spell or fall into a stupor and answer two questions truthfullyfor each turn a truth candle is burned. The stupor prevents the victim fromtaking offensive actions, reduces the victim’s movement by half, and lasts2d6 turns. Victims may defend themselves against attacks normally.

Gold Healing Candle (13th): Mystics are able to craft healing candlesat 13th level. These candles cure 1d6 points of damage per turn of burningto any being able to be healed by magical healing, All the healing happensat once, when the candle goes out. The being cured is the being who snuffsout the candle or the being closest to the candle when it is extinguished.

Yellow Telepathy Candle (15th): At 15th level, mystics learn to crafttelepathy candles. These candles allow a mystic (and only a mystic) to read asubject’s mind and communicate with him or her if the subject fails a savingthrow vs. spell. Subjects may voluntarily fail a saving throw by free choiceor if they are charmed. All languages are understood through this mind-to-mind contact. Falsehoods and evasions are revealed as such. This commu-nication ability is gained while the candle is burning in the presence of thesubject and the mystic. They cease when the candle is extinguished.

Green Fortune Candle (17th): At 17th level, mystics can crealte for-tune candles. A fortune candle grants good fortune similar to that granted by astone of good luck in the form of a +1 or +5% bonus to all die rolls involvingsaving throws, slipping, dodging, ability checks, nonweapon proficiencychecks, etc. It also grants a +1 to +10% or -1 to -10% (the subject picks be-fore any such roll) for any roll for determination of magical items or divisionof treasure. Attack rolls and damage rolls are not affected. For each turn acandle is burned, one day of fortune is granted. Consecutive turns of burningadd to the duration of the effect, but the bonus granted rcmains the same.

White Purification Candle (20th): Good mystics can craft purificationcandles at 20th level. These either cast a remove curse spell as a 20th-levelpriest (thus removing one curse placed by a curse candle — see below), grantthe effect of imbibing an elixir of health (including curing magical diseases)in a subject, or automatically banish one cxtraplanar creature (also auto-matically overcoming its magic resistance—see the 7th-level wizard spellbanishment and the 4th-level priest spell abjure for similar effects). One ofthese effects is generated per turn the candle is burned.

Silver Empowerment Candle (20nd): Neutral mystics learn to craftempowerment candles at 20th level. When burned for a turn, an empower-ment candle grants its target maximum spell effects (similar to incense ofmeditation, but the target need not be a priest). It also grants the targetmaximum damage physical damage potential; all aucccssful attack rolls dothe maximum possible damage. These effects last one hour for every turnthe candle is burned.

Black Curse Candle (20th): Evil mystics can create curse candles at20th level. These candles place a curse on a victim for every turn that theyburn, up to a maximum of six curses. Curses can vary, but the most typicalare weakness (Strength reduced to 3), clumsiness (Dexterity reduced to 3),exhaustion (Constitution reduced to 3), feeblemindedness (Intelligence re-duced to 3), foolishness (Wisdom reduced to 3), and ugliness (Charisma re-duced to 3). Victims are entitled to a saving throw vs. spell for each curse asa turn ends; a successful saving throw negates that particular curse. Castingwish or remove curse (cast by a priest of at least 12th level) removes onecurse for each casting of the spell. Each curse lasts indefinitely until dis-pelled by these spells or a remove curse candle.

Bonus Candles (25th): At 25th level, mystics of the various align-ments learn to craft the 20th-level candles learned by those alignmentsone step from their own. Good and evil mystics may now craft empowermentcandles. Neutral mystics may learn to craft either purification or cursecandles. Once this choice is made, however, the other type of candle liesforever out of the reach of a neutral mystic’s lore.

ShamanABILITY REQUIREMENTS: Constitution 12, Wisdom 12PRIME REQUISITES: WisdomRACES ALLOWED: Human

Shamans are tribal priests found in savage, barbaric, or nomadic societies. Intheir homelands, shamans serve their tribes in much the same way that cler-ics serve the common people of more civilized lands: They act as guides, pro-tectors, and advisers, using their magical powers to strengthen and defendtheir tribes. Shamans often serve as the keepers of knowledge and legend for

their peoples and lead their tribes in thevarious rites and ceremonies required

by their tribes’ belief systems. Playercharacter shamans may still be

associated with their tribes,they may be wanderers orex i les who have aban-doned their duties, or they

may have be pursuing an ex-tended goal for their tr ibes

that takes them away from theirp e o p l e f o r a l o n g p e r i o d . M o s tFORGOTTEN REALMS campaign settingbeast cults, such as the numerousUthgardt beast cults, are served byshamans.

Shamans may be of any alignment.They are always found in tribal or bar-baric cultures. If players wish to runshamans in a more civilized campaign

setting, their characters are consid-ered to be barbaric foreigners by most

common folk they meet. The shaman’sarduous life in uncivilized lands requires

a good Constitution, and Wisdom is re-quired for dealing with tribal matters andspeaking to the spirits. Shamans withWisdom scores of 16 or better earn a

10%) bonus to the experiencepo in ts they ga in . Shamansprogress in experience levelsas do clerics.

Shamans are unusual char-acters in the adventuring party. Like druids, they are not front-line fighters,but they also lack the high-powered combat spells that druids command.However, a shaman’s mysterious spirit powers allow him or her to make useof magic that is usually out of the reach of low-level characters. A shamanwho demonstrates intelligence and respect in dealing with the spirits canbe an extremely effective character in a number of situations. Shamansview themselves as advisers and guides to a party of adventurers and oftenhave an uneducated but insightful view on the more civilized societies theyvisit.

Shamans may wear any armor normally associated with their tribes. Inthe absence of more specific information, tribal armor is usually hide,leather, or studded leather with a tough wooden, wicker, or hide-coveredshield. Similarly, shamans may use tribal weapons, which usually includethe short bow, club, dagger, dart, hand axe, harpoon, javelin, knife, quarter-staff, sling, and spear. Blowguns might he appropriate for shamans of jungletribes, or light lances and composite bows for shamans of tribal horsemen.

Shamans may use any magical items normally usable by priests. Theyhave a nonweapon proficiency crossover with the warrior group and canlearn priest or warrior proficiencies at the normal cost. Shamans have majoraccess to the spheres of all, animal, summoning, travelers, protection, andwards, and minor access to the healing and plant spheres. Shamans nevergain followers or establish strongholds. Good-aligned shamans may turn un-dead, and neutral or evil shamans may command undead.

In addition to their priest spells, shamans have a special connection tothe spirit world and can call on the spirits for guidance, knowledge, or mag-ical aid. While shamans often function as priests of a tribal deity, their pri-mary concern is the spirit world. To a shaman, the physical world is not theentirety of existence. The spirits of animals, nature, and the tribe’s dead arealways near, and interacting with these spirits is the shaman’s greatest dutyand responsibility.

Shaman Spirit PowersShamans each begin play with one minor spirit ally or guide of theirchoice. As they rise in level, they learn the rites necessary to call addi-tional spirits and seek their favor. Spirit, are individuals—speaking to aspirit of the dead means the shaman is in contact with one particular de-ceased individual. Dozens of spirits exist for each species of animal, repre-senting every aspect of the animal’s existence. In addition, a near-infinitenumber of nature spirits of the land, air, and water embody different as-pects of the natural world. The number of spirits a shaman knows how tocontact appears on the table below:

Shaman Spirit ProgressionShaman�s Minor Major Great

Level spirit Spirit Spirit1 1 - -

2 1 - -

3 2 - -

4 2 - -

5 2 1 -

6 3 1 -

7 3 2 -

8 24 -

9 4 2 110 4 3 111 4 3 212 5

53 2

13 4 214 5 4 315 6 4 316 6 5

53

17 6 418 7 5 419 7 6 420 7 6 5

Performing the ceremony to call a spirit for the first time requires atenday (a week in settings other than the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaignsetting) or more of fasting, prayer, and solitude in the appropriate loca-tion. If a shaman is trying to call a wolf spirit, she or he must find a loca-tion frequented by wolves, and if a shaman is trying to call an ancestralspirit, the shaman should perform the ceremony at the individual’s burialsite. At the conclusion of this tenday-long (week-long) ceremony, thespirit appears, and the shaman establishes contact with it. From that timeforward, the shaman may attempt to contact the spirit anywhere or any-time to seek information or request a favor of the spirit—see Calling Spir-its, below. When shaman characters begin play, it is assumed that theyhave each already performed the ceremony to attract their first spiritguides.

When a spirit casts a spell for a shaman, the spirit casts the spell eitherat the shaman’s level or at the experience level normally required for apriest to cast a spell of that level, whichever is greater.

Spirits of the Dead: These ancestral spirits are individuals who wererenowned for their wisdom, skill, or courage in life. Minor spirits may berecent relatives of the shaman, while major spirits are great heroes andwise people of the tribe. A great spirit of the dead is a chieftain, shatman, orother personage of legendary standing. While spirits of the dead may seemto be frightening allies, they are actually very protective of their livingprotégés and bear few grudges against the living.

Spirits of the dead know many things. Naturally, they are familiar withany details or events of their own lifetimes. They are able to perceive ashaman’s likely fate or future and can offer advice in times of toughchoices. Spirits of the dead can also provide some measure of protectionfor a shaman and his or her allies by using their powers on the shaman’sbehalf. Minor spirits can invoke the powers of augury, feign death, prayer,or speak with dead on behalf of the shaman. Major spirits can invoke div-ination, commune, or find the path/lose the path for the shaman. Great spir-its can invoke raise dead/slay living, forbiddance, or astral spell for theshaman. Note that most of these are spells normally outside the shaman’sspheres of access. In addition, shamans often gain other effects in role-playing a conversation with these spirits, such as information or guidancein difficult choices.

Animal Spirits: Shamans live in a world in which animals are a vitalpart of human life. Animals provide food, shelter, clothing, and tools for ashaman’s people, and the animal spirits are revered for their wisdom andknowledge. Minor and major spirits are embodiments of an archetype, suchas the Old Wolf, the Sleeping Bear, or the Hunting Eagle. Great animalspirits are the leaders of these lesser spirits and contain in themselves every-thing the animal stands for—the Great Bear, the Great Wolf, and so on.

Animal spirits are powerful, but they are also less inclined to offer ad-vice or guidance to shamans. Their interest lies in ensuring that shamansare respectful toward their species and that shamans help to guide othersin dealing with animal spirits’ kin. They are not very interested in aidingshamans in their own affairs. The spirits of game animals such as moose ordeer do not mind if shamans or their peoples hunt the animal, but theygrow angry if the hunting is wanton or disrespectful.

Animal spir i ts have knowledge of events that have affected theirspecies in the local area and have a number of powers they can use on ashaman’s behalf. Minor animal spirits can aid shamans by using animalfriendship, speaks with animals, or animal summoning I. In addition, an animalspirit can grant a limited form of clairaudience and clairvoyance by allowinga shaman to see through the eyes and hear through the ears of an animal ofthe spirit’s species within a range of one mile. Animals of the species inquestion will never attack the shaman or anyone under his or her protec-tion unless the shaman has angered the spirit or the animals are magicallycontrolled.

Major animal spirits can use animal summoning II, grant shamans thespeed or movement powers of the animal (flying, swimming, or running atthe animal’s base speed), or transform shamans into the shape of the ani-mal, similar to a druid’s shapechange. Great spirits can use animal summon-ing III, heal a shaman or one person under his or her protection (or harm anenemy), or become tangible and aid the shaman in a form resembling Mor-denkainen’s faithful hound in abilities but shaped in the form of the animal.

Spirits of Nature: The most reclusive and powerful spirits are the ele-mental spirits of nature. These beings represent the physical world aroundshamans. The strength or power of the feature the spirit represents deter-mines whether it is considered a minor, major, or great spirit. A stream,copse, or hilltop may he home to a minor spirit; a river, moderately-sizedforest, or canyon may be guarded by a major spirit; and a mountain, largeforest, or mighty river may be the home of a great spirit. Spirits of naturefrequently take on humanlike features or characteristics when dealingwith shamans, so a spir i t might be known as Old Mountain, RiverWoman, or Forest Walker.

Spirits of nature are even more distant than animal spirits, but they dofeel some attachment to the people and creatures who live nearby. A riverspirit is likely to be protective of the village built on its banks as long asthe people show respect to it. Nature spirits often change with the sea-sons, so a river spirit in the spring flood may be wild, capricious, and dan-gerous to deal with, while a forest spirit in winter may be sleeping andhard to rouse.

Spirits of nature aregenerally well-informed about anything that hastaken place in their location and can relate this information to shamans.Spirits of nature are also capable of using potent powers on a shaman’s be-half. The principle difference between minor and great spirits is the size ofthe area in which they can be summoned. Minor spirits are bound to onespecific site not more than a few hundred yards across, major spirits arelimited to 5 or 10 square miles, and great spirits can act in areas the size ofsmall nations. Note that the areas of effect of spell-like abilities the spiritscan enact remain unchanged—a great spirit is powerful because the regionin which it is available to assist the shaman is much larger than a minorspirit’s range.

Spirits of nature can help a shaman by invoking a number of spell-likepowers for the shaman. Unlike elementals, spirits of nature include aspectsof vegetation and all the elements of their home, so a mountain spirit hasinfluence over earth and air as well as the forests that grow on the moun-tain’s slopes. The abilities available to spirits of nature are described below.The reverse forms of reversible spells are able to be granted also, thoughthe listed form is most commonly requested.

Land Spirits: 1st — entangle, pass without trace; 2nd — dust devil, trip;3rd — meld into stone, snare; 4th — speak with plants; 5th — commune with na-

ture; 6th — stone tell, liveoak, wall of thorns; 7th — animate rock, andchangestaff. Land spirits may he associated with mountains, plains, forests,plateaus, canyons, mesas, or any other distinct land feature.

Air Spirits: 2nd — obscurement; 3rd — call lightning, gust of wind (wizardspell), wind wall (wizard spell); 5th — commune with nature, air walk, controlwinds; 6th — weather summoning; 7th — control weather, uncontrolled weather,(reverse of control weather), and wind walk. Air spirits are associated withhigh peaks, windswept plains or valleys, or seasonal winds such as a siroccoor the north wind of the winter.

Water Spirits: 1st — wall of fog (wizard spell); 2nd — fog cloud (wizardspell); 3rd — water breathing, water walk; 4th — lower water, solid fog (wizardspell), reflecting pool, 5th — commune with nature, 6th — part water, and im-proved create water (reverse of transmute water to dust), Water spirits are as-sociated with lakes, streams, rivers, or seas.

Calling SpiritsOnce shamans have performed the initial ceremonies that attract spiritsand establish connections to the beings, they can summon those spiritsanytime to seek the information, favors, and powers described above. Ashaman’s location does not matter. Spirits can come to shamans anywhere,even though spirits of nature may not be able to help them outside theirhomes.

To summon a spirit, a shaman must chant, pray, and perform a ceremo-nial dance for at least one turn. The base chance of success is 10% percharacter level, plus 10% for every additional turn the character chantsand dances to a maximum 90% chance of success. If a shaman has alreadysummoned a spirit that day, the maximum chance of success falls by 10%per summoning. For instance, a shaman who has called two spirits and istrying to summon a third has a maximum success chance of 70%, or possi-bly less if she is a low-level character in a hurry. In any event, shamansmay attempt no more than one calling per their character level in thecourse of a single day. A roll of 96 or higher (91 or higher in the case ofspirits of nature) angers the spirit the shaman is trying to call.

If the spirit is not angry at the shaman for some reason, it appears with asuccessful roll. Only shamans can see the spirit or speak to it. Other charac-ters may be aware of chills, strange odors, shimmering hazes, unusual gustsof wind, and other signs. The shaman can converse with the spirit for oneround per character level, asking one question per round. Asking a favor ofa spirit, such as the use of a spell-like ability, requires one round for minorspirits or abilities, two for major, and three for abilities that can only begranted by great spirits. During this request the shaman explains what sheor he wishes of the spirit and why the spirit should grant help. If the DMthinks it appropriate, the player must role-play this conversation. If thespirit agrees to help, the spell-like effect is granted to the shaman, who mayretain it in reserve for up to one full day until the shaman is ready to invokethe spirit’s power. A shaman can only hold one favor in reserve at a timeand cannot request another of any spirit until the held ability is used.

Spirits as NPCS: Spirits are individuals, and they have long memories.A shaman who takes actions the spirits find offensive or who asks their helpin questionable circumstances may be denied assistance just because thespirit does not feel like being helpful. The DM may find it useful to refer toTable 59: Encounter Reactions in the DMG. Simply rate the spirit’s frameof mind as threatening, hostile, indifferent, or friendly depending on howthe shaman has been acting and how outrageous the shaman’s request is tothe spirit. It is a good idea to create personalities, motivations, and attitudesfor the spirits the shaman deals with most often.

Spirits do not have game statistics. Normal mortals have no means of in-juring them, although other divine creatures may be able to do so. Onlygreater spirits can take a physical form, and even then they are reluctant todo so. Greater spirits of the dead can briefly resume their living form withthe appropriate class and abilities; animal spirits can appear as a double-sizedversion of the normal variety; and spirits of nature can appear as 12-HDelementals. In physical form, spirits can only be injured by +2 or better mag-ical weapons. Even if they are “killed,” they actually only retreat from thescene for a short while.

Angering the Spirits: A shaman can completely alienate the spirits bytaking particularly offensive actions. If the offense is temporary or unin-tentional, the spirit simply refuses to answer any calls for a suitable periodof time—one tenday (one week in alternate campaign settings) to a yearmay be appropriate. If the offense was deliberate or permanent in nature,the spirit severs its connection to the shaman and cannot be called againuntil the shaman atones for the offense, repairs whatever damage she or hedid and repeats the tenday-long (week-long) summoning ceremony.

Advanced Sunshine (Amaunator; Pr 4; Sun). . .29

Akadi’s Vortex (Akadi; Pr 7; Elemental Air). . . 26

Amanuensis (Deneir; Pr 3; Creation). . . . . . . . . 56

Amaunator’s Uncertainty(Amaunator; Pr 2; Law).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Animal Sight (Malar; Pr 4; Animal). . . . . . . . . 107

Animal Transfer (Malar; Pr 6; Animal). . . . . . 108

Anyspell (Mystra; Pr 4; Charm, Creation). . . . 130

Armor of Darkness (Shar; Pr 3;Protection, Sun).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Attraction (Bhaal; Pr 2; Charm).. . . . . . . . . . . .47

Azuth’s Exalted Triad (Azuth; Pr 5; Thought;Wiz 5; Alteration) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Azuth’s Fedensor (Azuth; Pr 4; Thought;Wiz: 4; Alteration) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Azuth’s Spell Shield (Azuth; Pr 7; Protection;Wiz 7; Abjuration) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Bane of Beshaba (Beshaba; Pr 2; Combat). . . . .44

Banish Blight (Mielikki; Pr 2; Plant). . . . . . . . 115

Banish Flame (Kossuth; Pr 1; Elemental Fire).. . 90

Battle Song (Milil; Pr 2; Charm, Combat). . . . 118

Battletide (Iyachtu Xvim; Pr 5; Combat). . . . . . 84

Beast Claw (Malar; Pr 2;Combat, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Black Talon (Cyric; Pr 2; Necromantic). . . . . . . 53

Blacklight (Ibrandul; Pr 3; Combat, Sun).. . . . . 74

Bladebless (Tempus; Pr 7; Combat).. . . . . . . . . 162

Blast of Pain (Ilmater; Pr 5;Combat, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Bliss (Lliira; Pr 2; Charm). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Bolt of Glory (Torm; Pr 6;Combat, Summoning).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Bone Bite (Myrkul; Pr 2;Combat, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Boon of Lathander (Lathander; Pr 4; Combat).. . 93

Briartangle (Silvanus; Pr 4; Plant).. . . . . . . . 147

Calms Winds (Akadi; Pr 4; Elemental Air). . . . 26

Candle of Calm (Lliira; Pr 5;Charm, Protection). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Chilling Scythe (Kelemvor; Pr 2; Combat.Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Clear Air (Akadi; Pr 4; Elemental Air). . . . . . . 26

Cloud of Pestilence (Talona; Pr 4, Combat,Elemental Air) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Cloudburst (Istishia; Pr 3, Elemental Water) . . . 81

Compel (Torm; Pr 3; Charm). . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Conjure Air Elemental (Akadi; Pr 7.Elemental Air) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Conjure Nature Elemental (Chauntea; Pr 7;Elemental (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water),Plant, Summoning). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Conjure Water Elemental (Istishia; Pr 6;Elemental Water, Summoning) . . . . . . . 81

Control Vapor (Eldath; Pr 5; Elemental Air,Elemental Water) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Corrupt (Myrkul; Pr 4; Necromantic). . . . . . . 127

Create Baneguard (Bane; Pr 6; Necromantic). 40

Create Direguard (Cyric; Pr 7; Necromantic).. . 54

Create Ibrandlin (Ibrandul; Pr 6; Guardian). . . .75

Create Treant (Mielikki; Pr 7; Plant) . . . . . . . . 116

Creature of Darkness (Shar; Pr 4; Sun). . . . . . . 142

Dance of Pain (Loviatar; Pr 3;Combat, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Dance of the Fallen (Tempus; Pr 6;Guardian, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Dark Aura (Cyric; Pr 4; Combat) . . . . . . .53

Dark Path (Ibrandul; Pr 1; Sun, Travelers) . . . . . 74

Dark Promise (Bane; Pr 5;Charm, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . .40

. . . 142

. . . 145

. . . 87

. . . 100

. . . 149

. . . . 4 l

. . . .47

. . . 87

Darkbolt (Shar; Pr 4; Combat) . . . . .

Dead Magic Shield (Shaundakul; Pr 5;Protection) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dead March (Kelemvor; Pr 4;Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . .

Deadly Dance (Lliira, Pr 4; Combat)

Death Chariot (Silvanus; Pr 7,E l e m e n t a l F i r e ) . . . . . . . . .

Death Symbol of Bane (Bane; Pr 7;G u a r d i a n ) . . . . . . . . . . .

Decay (Bhaal; Pr 3; Time). . . . . . . . .

Deny Death (Kelemvor; Pr 5;Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Destroy Magedoom (Azuth; Pr 7;Summoning, Protection;Wiz 7; Conjuration/Summoning). . . . .

Dispel Silence (Milil; Pr 3; Combat). . . .

Dolorous Decay (Myrkul; Pr 6;Combat, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . .

Doom of Bane, The (Bane; Pr 4;Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . .

Doublecoin (Waukeen; Pr 4; Creation). . .

Duplicate (Oghma; Pr 4; Creation). . . . . . .

Earthenair (Grumbar, Pr 3;Elemental Earth). . . . . . . . . .

Earthenport (Grumbar; Pr 5;Elemental Earth). . . . . . . . . .. . . . .

Endurance of Ilmater (Ilmater; Pr 4;Necromantic, Protection). . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Exaltation (Helm; Pr 3; Combat, Healing). . .

Faithful Mount (Malar; Pr 7,Animal, Charm). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

False Dawn (Lathander; Pr 6; Sun)

Fantastic Machine (Gond, Pr 6, Creation)

. . . 36

. . . 118

. . . 128

. . . .40

. . . 180

. . . 134

. . . 68

. 68

77

. . . . 70

108

. . . . .93

. . . 65

Favor of Ilmater (Ilmater; Pr 3;Necromantic, Protection) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Favor of Shaundakul (Shaundakul; Pr 2;Travelers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Favor of the Goddess (Chauntea; Pr 2; Plant). . .50

Favor of Tymora (Tymora; Pr 2; Protection) . . . 168

Feat (Tymora; Pr 4; All). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Find Companion (Malar; Pr 4; Animal) . . . . . . 108

Fireward (Silvanus; Pr 5; Elemental Fire) . . . . . 148

Flame Shield (Eldath; Pr 3; Elemental Fire) . . . . 60

Forceward (Helm; Pr 3; Wards). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Forgotten Melody (Milil; Pr 5;Charm, Combat) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Frost Fingers (Auril; Pr 1; Combat, Weather). . . 33

Frost Whip (Auril; Pr 2; Combat, Weather). . . . 33

Gauntlet of Winds (Shaundakul; Pr 4;Elemental Air, Weather) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Glyph of Revealing (Deneir; Pr 2; Divination). . . 56

Greater Shield of Lathander(Lathander; Pr 7; Guardian). . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Greater Touchsickle (Eldath; Pr 5;Combat, Plant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Greenwood (Eldath; Pr 3; Plant). . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Hammer of Justice (Tyr; Pr 5; Divination). . . . . 171

Hand of Torm (Torm; Pr 4; Guardian) . . . . . 165

Handfang (Moander; Pr 2;Combat, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Harp of War (Milil; Pr 7; Combat) . . . . . . . . . 119

Heart of Ice (Auril; Pr 7;Combat, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Holy Flail (Tempus; Pr 3; Combat, Creation) . . 160

Ice Blade (Auril; Pr 4; Combat, Weather). . . . . . 33

Illumination (Amaunator; Pr 5;Sun, Thought). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Impart Knowledge (Oghma; Pr 2; Thought). . . 134

Impenetrable Falsehood (Leira; Pr 2; Divination) 95

Istishia’s Port (Istishia; Pr 7; Elemental Water). . . 81

Kiss of Torment (Loviatar; Pr 4;Combat, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . .105

Listening Shadow (Mask; Pr 3; Divination). . .111

Love Bite (Sune; Pr 2; Combat). . . . . . . . . 151

Loviatar’s Caress (Loviatar; Pr 2; Combat). . . . 104

Luckbolt (Tymora; Pr 6; Combat, Protection). . . 168

Mace of Odo (Helm; Pr 3; Combat). . . . ..71

Mace of Xvim (Iyachtu Xvim; Pr 2; Combat. . . . 84

Maelstrom (Umberlee, Pr 7;Elemental Water). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Magefire* (Mystra; Pr 4; Healing,Necromantic, Protection). . . . . . . . . . . 131

Merge with Nature (Sune; Pr 6; Charm,Necromantic, Plant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Minor Wealthtwist (Waukeen; Pr 5;Healing, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Misfire (Beshaba, Pr 4; Combat). . . . . . . . . . . 44

Misfortune (Beshaba; Pr 5; Combat, Charm). . . 44

Mist of the Goddess (Eldath; Pr 7;Elemental Water, Healing). . . . . . . . . . . 61

Mold Touch (Eldath; Pr 3; Plant) . . . . . .. . 60

Monstrous Illusion (Leira; Pr 4; Combat,Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Moon Blade (Selûne; Pr 3; Combat, Sun). . . . . . 137

Moon Path (Selûne; Pr 5; Sun, Travelers). . . . 138

Moonveil (Bane; Pr 7; Elemental Water). . . . . . . 41

Moonweb (Selûne; Pr 5; Guardian, Sun) . . . . . 138

Mulch (Silvanus; Pr 5; Plant, Necromantic). . . 148

Mystic Lash (Bane; Pr 5; Combat) . . . . . . . .40

Oakheart (Silvanus; Pr 4; Plant) . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Oars to Snakes (Umberlee; Pr 4; Plant) . . . . . . 175

Phantom Plow (Chauntea; Pr 3;Elemental Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Plant Lance (Chauntea; Pr 4; Plant). . . . . . . . . .50

Poison Touch (Talona; Pr 2;Combat, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Precipitation (Istishia; Pr 1; Elemental Water) . . .81

Probing Arm (Gond; Pr 5; Creation) . . . . . . . . .65

Quench the Spirit (Myrkul; Pr 6;Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Rage(Malar; Pr 5; Combat) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Rapture (Sune; Pr 3; Charm). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Reaving Blades (Iyachtu Xvim; Pr 4; Combat). . .84

Resplendence of Renewed Youth(Tyr; Pr 7; Necromantic, Healing) . . . . . . . . 171

Reveal (Tempus; Pr 4; Divination) . . . . . . . . . . 160

Rising Rot (Moander; Pr 5;Combat, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Rites of Istishia (Istishia; Pr 3;Elemental Water) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Roots of the Assassin (Moander; Pr 6;Summoning, Plant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Rosemantle (Lathander; Pr 1; Protection) . . . . . . 92

Rosetouch (Lathander; Pr 2; Protection) . . . . . . . 92

Sacred Link (Tempus; Pr 7; Creation). . . . . . 162

Sanctify Sacred Site (Chauntea; Pr 7;All, Sun, Plant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Seed of Moander (Moander; Pr 5; Plant) . . . . . . 123

Seeking Sword (Helm; Pr 4; Combat). . . . . . . . 71

Sentry of Helm (Helm; Pr 1;Guardian, Travelers). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Shadow Sword (Shaundakul; Pr 3;Combat, Sun). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Shadowcloak (Mask; Pr 3; Sun, Protection) . . . . 111

Shield of Lathander(Lathander; Pr 5; Guardian). . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Shift Glyph (Deneir; Pr 3;Creation, Divination). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Singing Stone (Milil; Pr 4;Divination, Elemental Earth). . . . . . . . . . 118

Skulk (Ibrandul; Pr 4; Protection). .. . . . . . 74

Skull of Secrets (Cyric; Pr 4; Guardian). . . .. . . 53

Smoke Ghost (Silvanus; Pr 4; Elemental Fire). . . 148

Song of Compulsion (Milil; Pr 3;Charm, Law). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Speak with Drowned Dead (Umberlee; Pr 3;Elemental Water, Divination). . . . . . . . 174

Speed Rot (Moander; Pr 3; Plant). . . . . . . . . 122

Spell Ward (Mystra; Pr 7; Protection). . . . . . . .131

Spellbind (Oghma; Pr 7;Necromantic, Protection). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Spirit Annihilation (Bane; Pr 6; Necromantic). . . . 40

Spirit Trap of the Darkbringer(Moander; Pr 5; Plant, Necromantic). . . . . . 123

Spring Mastery (Eldath; Pr 6;Creation, Elemental Water). . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Stalk (Mielikki; Pr 2; Animal) . . . . . . . . . . 115

Starflight* (Mystra; Pr 3;Elemental Air, Travelers). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Stone Walk (Bane; Pr 7; Elemental Earth). . . . . . 42

Storm Cone (Talos; Pr 5;Elemental Air, Weather) . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Storm Shield (Talos; Pr 3;Protection, Weather) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Stormcloak (Umberlee; Pr 4;Elemental Water, Protection) . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Striking Shadows (Mask; Pr 6; Guardian). . . . . 112

Striking Wave (Umberlee; Pr 4;Elemental Water) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

Summon Lock Lurker (Waukeen; Pr 3;Summoning, Animal). . . . . . .. . . . . . .180

SummonSpectator (Helm; Pr 5;Summoning, Protection). . . . . . . . . . .. 71

Sun Scepter (Amaunator; Pr 6; Sun, Law) . . . . 29

Sunrise (Lathander; Pr 3; Sun) . . . .. . . . . . . .92

Sword and Hammer (Tyr; Pr 6; Combat) . . . . . 171

Swordward (Torm; Pr 6;Protection, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Talona’s Blessing (Talona; Pr 5;Protection, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Tentacle of Withering (Moander; Pr 6;Combat, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Thorn Spray (Silvanus; Pr 4; Plant) . . . . . . . . 148

Touch of the Talontar (Talona; Pr 4;Combat, Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Touchsickle (Eldath; Pr 2; Combat, Plant). . . . . . . 59

Tree Healing (Mielikki; Pr 5;Healing, Necromantic, Plant). . . .. . . . . . . . . . 115

Triple Mask (Leira; Pr 5;Necromantic, Protection) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Truemetal (Waukeen; Pr 1; Divination) . . . . . . 180

Tsunami (Istishia; Pr 7; Elemental Water). . . . . . 82

Undeath After Death (Bane; Pr 6;Necromantic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41

Veil of Djalice (Sune; Pr 4; Charm). . . . . . . . .1 5 1

Wailing Wind (Eldath; Pr 1;Elemental Air, Weather) . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Wall of Moonlight (Selûne; Pr 4,Protection, Sun) . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 138

Watching Shadow (Mask; Pr 4; Divination). . . . 112

Water of Eldath (Eldath; Pr 5;Elemental Water, Healing). . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Waterspout (Umberlee; Pr 6;Elemental Water). . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .175

Waterwall (Istishia; Pr 4; Elementa1 Water). . . . . . 81

Wealthtwist (Waukeen; Pr 7;Healing, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Wealthword (Waukeen; Pr 7;Healing, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Wheel of Bones (Eldath; Pr 3, Necromantic). .. 60

Whip of Flame (Loviatar; Pr 2; Combat). . . . . . .. . 104

Whip of Pain (Loviatar; Pr 3;Combat, Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Whip of Shar (Shar; Pr 3; Necromantic). . . . . . . .. . . 142

Whirlwind (Akadi; Pr 7; Elemental Air). . . . . . . . 26

Wieldskill (Gond; Pr 2, Charm, Thought). . . . .. . 65

Wind Lash (Talos; Pr 2; Weather). . . . . . . . . . 157

Windbearer (Akadi; Pr 3; Elemental Air). . . . . .26

Winds of Akadi (Akadi; Pr 4; Elemental Air). . . 26

Wither (Myrkul; Pr 5; Necromantic). . . . . . . . . 127

Wolfjaws (Tyr; Pr 2; Combat, Necromantic). . .171

Wondrous Recall (Mystra; Pr 6;Charm, Creation). . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Wood Sword (Mielikhi; Pr 2; Combat). . . . . . . .. 115

Wound (Bhaal; Pr 5; Necromantic). . . . . . . . . . . . 47